The Science Diaries 2: Some Science Haiku
Mar. 16th, 2026 11:10 pm12/02/24
the blue line cuts through
the darkened room - mirror - point:
aligning laser
17/06/24
bone-white triangles
electron beam micrograph
a strange deposit
how deep does it reach
out into the crystalline
matrix? what pollutes?
substrate immixes
in our data, obscures
the unknown carbide(?)
16/01/25
the damn laser won’t
show itself; we dowse for it
rocking the casing
27/01/25
careful measure shows
that the motor’s positions
are drifting: unmoored,
in its back and forth,
the heavy load - spring-pushed - will
tend towards the switch
06/02/25
under fluorescent
yellow, we piece together
patchwork into stone
11/02/25
scraps of gold foil sink;
the sweet stench of propanol;
poisonous liftoff
07/04/25
spectral soothsaying:
this line is said to betray
plane dislocations
16/09/25
chalk stains on my pants:
I seem to have acquired
a new profession
27/10/25
a mechanical
failure luckily turned out
a loose screw only
28/10/25
a forest of rays
could this be 3+ charge state?
or stray fingerprints?
results could not be
reproduced: hope is ever
- ah! - fleeting and vain
28/11/25
chasing lens alignment:
circles of pale yellow light
behind my closed eyes
06/02/26
electrician’s smells:
heated metal, polished wood
sweet leaded solder
24/02/26
why oh why is the
cryostat temp descending
but to 30K?
teaching is tiring
science is confusing and
I cannot find my bug
the blue line cuts through
the darkened room - mirror - point:
aligning laser
17/06/24
bone-white triangles
electron beam micrograph
a strange deposit
how deep does it reach
out into the crystalline
matrix? what pollutes?
substrate immixes
in our data, obscures
the unknown carbide(?)
16/01/25
the damn laser won’t
show itself; we dowse for it
rocking the casing
27/01/25
careful measure shows
that the motor’s positions
are drifting: unmoored,
in its back and forth,
the heavy load - spring-pushed - will
tend towards the switch
06/02/25
under fluorescent
yellow, we piece together
patchwork into stone
11/02/25
scraps of gold foil sink;
the sweet stench of propanol;
poisonous liftoff
07/04/25
spectral soothsaying:
this line is said to betray
plane dislocations
16/09/25
chalk stains on my pants:
I seem to have acquired
a new profession
27/10/25
a mechanical
failure luckily turned out
a loose screw only
28/10/25
a forest of rays
could this be 3+ charge state?
or stray fingerprints?
results could not be
reproduced: hope is ever
- ah! - fleeting and vain
28/11/25
chasing lens alignment:
circles of pale yellow light
behind my closed eyes
06/02/26
electrician’s smells:
heated metal, polished wood
sweet leaded solder
24/02/26
why oh why is the
cryostat temp descending
but to 30K?
teaching is tiring
science is confusing and
I cannot find my bug