I'm a humble practitioner of an alternative form of witchcraft. One of the highest archmaesters in my field wrote a treatise on miracles, reading the future, etc which is a good read.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004W0I00Q
Using this type of witchcraft, you may divine the motions of the planets in the sky, even millions of years hence. It also answers important questions, like "Is it a good idea to go driving on a snowy day".
In the iconic book Ignition! every test fire where the test stand doesn't blow up, is considered a success ;-)
> Violence and Crime today are due to depriving people of our Christian values on respecting life.
Which would be a good argument if violence and crime weren't way down overall globally. We live in the safest era to live in ever.
Steven Pinker provides a huge amount of evidence to support this in his excellent book The Better Angels of our Nature: Why Violence has Declined.
It is also worth noting that the most violent countries in the world (excluding places that are actively at war) are almost universally Christian. If you sort the list of murder rates by country by rate descending, you will see that there is not a single country in the top 20 that is not majority Christian. And in fact, most of the countries at the top of the list have pretty high religiosity.
This process (called the diffused mode of the brain) is discussed in depth in a book I read a few years ago called A Mind For Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra).
Would highly recommend if anyone is interested in how your brain learns things - especially abstract concepts like mathematics and programming.
If you'd like to read a book that will demonstrate the ways that our world has improved with empirical data, check out Enlightenment Now by Stephen Pinker.
I'm almost done reading it myself. It's very easy to get lost in the day-to-day bad news. This book takes the long view how nearly everything in our lifetime has gotten significantly better in spite of what we're constantly bombarded with in the media.
I’ve been reading Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073TJBYTB/) and he makes some plausible arguments for how inequality, while bad, is not the metric to measure the health of our society. Poverty, which has been ever decreasing, is the measure for how successful our programs and approaches are, with inequality as a secondary metric to measure and work on. So we can take heart that many of the programs and progress of the last 70 years have truly increased the quality of life for most Americans. A corollary to this is: don’t rail to pull money from the richest; instead, take steps to make the poorest less poor.
I’m massacring his point, I’m sure, but it is interesting. Thinking of it not in terms of a zero sum game is worthwhile. My take was: it’s not the whole “a rising tide lifts all ships” schtick; it’s more about fixating less on the Waltons and their ilk, and more focusing on everyone else. There will be peaks when some people make off with a vulgar amount of cash/wealth, but as long as overall quality of life continues to rise for everyone, we’re doing well.
Worth thinking about.
Hey man we all get discouraged when learning something new.
You should check out this https://www.amazon.ca/Mind-Numbers-Science-Flunked-Algebra-ebook/dp/B00G3L19ZU
The author was terrified of math throughout high school and joined the army after graduating. When she was ~25 she realized the work she was doing was not going to provide her a great future, and she went back to school for an engineering degree. During this time she learned how to overcome her issues, and she's now doing a PHD.
I really liked the book, I got it on Audible but wouldn't be surprised if the library had it :) She covers strategies to deal with solving new problems and also procrastination.
I'm early thirties, and left a controlling ex a couple years ago myself (still married because they keep "accidentally" dropping the ball on their end, but that's another story). I had a discouraging experience going back to school while we were still living together, and it made me nervous about trying again. But this time has been totally different. I'm graduating from CC this spring with a 4.0!
We adult students have a lot of things going for us. There's the benefit of life experience and a fully developed brain. We tend to be more organized and driven, too. You may even find that material you struggled with as a teen comes more easily now.
However, I still get panicked every semester that I'm going to lose focus and flunk. Recently I've started having nightmares that I'm going to fail a class and not get to walk for graduation. I'm also worried because I'm starting STEM "weed out" classes next semester, so the difficulty is about the ratchet up significantly.
I'm managing by keeping my focus mostly on my current semester. I also bought a book called <em>A Mind For Numbers</em>, which is recommended for folks who aren't so confident in their math skills. It focuses on strategies for studying more efficiently and reducing the time you feel like you're grinding away but not getting anywhere.
I know it's scary, but school won't be as bad as your fear is telling you. Community colleges are very supportive places, with lots of resources to help you succeed. Take advantage of advising, free tutoring, and disability services (if panic attacks continue to be a problem). Don't let fear stop you from getting that degree! You can do it!!
Riveting read so far, that part of the introduction gave me chills and validated my views on the matter, so I’m sharing it. It’s available on Kindle.
https://www.amazon.com/TRINITY-Best-Kept-Secret-Jaques-Vallée-ebook/dp/B094YNBG8T/
There's quite a few details you're missing. There's also nuance with mergers and acquisitions. They're not the same.
I read this book a few years back, which was really interesting.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KVI76ZS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_9FFT0N90169W1V3VGEKK
All the cofounders put a lot of work into getting it off the ground - that includes musk.
It's not like PayPal was a successful business before the merger.
I literally just finished this book about 30 min ago. While it is a case that has been covered by others, I think Jacques Vallee and Paola Harris have woven together a spectacular case.
If you wait for the day humanity is perfect, you'll be waiting a long time. Humans can increase their economic power and increase their own flourishing at the same time. I highly recommend reading The Better Angles of our Nature or Enlightenment now by Steven Pinker. The hard data on the topic might break you our of your negative views a bit.
(And note, I don't have rose colored glasses on. Humans have and will be shitty to each other and to our planet. I am just of the opinion that things are actually getting better on a lot of fronts, and we can continue to make them better instead of retreating)
I was very similar to you, and found the book <em>A Mind for Numbers</em> incredibly helpful for helping develop effective studying techniques (I read it my last semester in school, and kicked myself for not reading it sooner). There's a coursea course called "Learning how to Learn" by the same woman (+ a man, iirc) that seems to cover the same content.
Good luck!
>"How something can come from nothing?"
This book I read gave a neurological explanation for procrastination. They stuck someone in a fancy brain scanner gizmo and gave them a task that would trigger their procrastination. What they saw was that the anticipated discomfort you mentioned lit up the actual pain centers in the brain. They also saw, however, that this brain activity stopped when the person actually started the task. Based on this, their advice was "start by just doing a little." But in your case, it sounds like the pain response continues while doing the task. Emotional flashback?
If their model is correct, then maybe your problem isn't actually "procrastination," but you're getting the same end result of avoidance and dissociation. If so then tactics for dealing with procrastination aren't going to help as much as expected- and obviously you've tried quite hard!
That is not the only one.
Paola Harris and Jacques Vallee just released their new book Trinity, The Best Kept Secret. They dig deeper into a case that has been covered before, and Jacques did a lot of comparisons between the Socorro case, their 1945 case, and one from his database of French cases I believe. (Would check, but my husband seized custody of the book about 30 min after I finished it.)
Highly reccomend...fantastic read, in particular if you enjoy digging into some of the foundational cases in the history of UFOology.
I’m sorry, that’s sounds so frustrating, college-level math and physics can be very unforgiving if your high school math foundation is weak. It sounded like you have put in the hard work but struggle to see results. That’s an indication that your current study strategy/habit is not working and it’s time to learn some new study skills, to study not just harder but smarter. Here is the perfect book for you:
https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Numbers-Science-Flunked-Algebra-ebook/dp/B00G3L19ZU
I benefitted a ton from the book. I also agree that it would be a good idea to take a semester off to focus on your mental health and study strategy, review high-school math using Khan academy, and do some soul-searching to understand why you are in college (what’s your life goals?) so that when you are ready to come back, you will be in a much better mindset with better background and strategies to get through the struggle.
Diffused thinking is more conducive to creativity and invention, but while flow is a sign of focused productivity. You need both diffused and focused modes of thinking. Models of innovation, like design thinking, have divergent and convergent stages.
This MOOC on Learning How to Learn has a good introduction to how your brain works. The early lessons are informed by A Mind for Numbers.
When you have time (winter break?) read A Mind For Numbers by Barbara Oakley - it's a book about how to learn more efficiently, especially in math/science. It's a very practical book about how the brain learns and how to structure your study in a way that utilizes the literal biological process of learning that happens in your brain.
Also, what u/two-bit-hack said, and practice a lot. Don't be ashamed to watch tutorials and look up answers until you get it, but when you look up answers make sure you take the time to learn why the answers are correct. Real learning takes time and effort. Be persistent, consistent, and patient.
>The Holy Bible
"We are enjoined in Micah to do justly and love mercy; in Exodus we are forbidden to commit murder; in Leviticus we are commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves; in the Gospels we are urged to love our enemies.
Yet think of the rivers of blood spilled by fervent followers of the books in which these well-meaning exhortations are embedded.
In Joshua and in the second half of Numbers is celebrated the mass murder of men, women, children, down to the domestic animals in city after city across the whole land of Canaan. Jericho is obliterated in a ‘kherem’, a ‘holy war’.
The only justification offered for this slaughter is the mass murderers’ claim that, in exchange for circumcising their sons and adopting a particular set of rituals, their ancestors were long before promised that this land was their land.
Not a hint of self-reproach, not a muttering of patriarchal or divine disquiet at these campaigns of extermination can be dug out of holy scripture.
Instead, Joshua ‘destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel commanded’ (Joshua, x, 40). And these events are not incidental, but central to the main narrative thrust of the Old Testament.
Similar stories of mass murder (and in the case of the Amalekites, genocide) can be found in the book of Saul, Esther, and elsewhere in the Bible, with hardly a pang of moral doubt."
—Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
Salut, eu zic ca "problemele" ar fi astea:
- Ai nimerit fix intr-o recesiune, din ce văd majoritatea firmelor nu prea mai angajează acum, toată lumea merge pe burta, așteaptă sa vadă ce se întâmplă în viitor.
- Încearcă sa privești un pic lucrurile din prisma unui potențial angajator: primește probabil jdemii de CV-uri de la o grămadă de oameni care au terminat cursuri și vor sa între în industrie. Ca sa te cheme la interviu, trebuie să-i sara ceva în OK de pe CV - o experiență, un proiect, o măslină, o atenție. Oricât de junior / internship ai fi, trebuie sa fii un pic util firmei, sa poți sa faci un task mic singur; nu te angajează nimeni ca după aia sa pună un mid / senior dev langa tine 24/7 ca sa îți arate cum sa faci merge și sa citești cod.
- ca parare subiectiva și total neceruta, cred ca ești blocat în tutorial-hell.
Cred ca ar trebui să-ți faci un plan (gen ca în Ian 2023 sa fi angajat ca developer (junior sau internship) și pentru asta ai cam ~2 luni sa faci un proiect micuț pe care-l să-l pui pe CV (un exemplu ar fi sa consumi și tu un API public, gen ala de la GitHub, ca sa faci un git repo searcher - folosește și tu o libarie de CSS și vezi dacă poți să-l faci un pic responsive)
Dacă partea de mai sus îți da atacuri de panica și nu știi de unde sa te apuci sa faci asta, sugestia mea ar fi sa termini the odin project (track-ul cu full stack JS recomanda oamenii pe aici). În paralel, îți recomand sa citești cartea asta (te învață cum sa înveți, titlul e ușor imbecili)
Dacă banii sunt o urgență, atunci poți încerca sa aplici pentru poziții de QA, cu mențiunea ca munca e destul de repetitivă și departe de programarea propriu-zisă, așa ca o sa fii în aceeași situație de acum, doar ca o sa poți zice ca lucrezi în IT.
It's human nature to want to have some purpose to our lives. I get that. But it's not necessary at all -- or as I like to say "we make our own purpose". Science tells us that everything does NOT have to come from something (Krauss). I think it's all up to us, and I'm happy with that.
Well, things might FEEL wicked, but that’s just because the news sensationalizes the bad stuff. By every metric, humans are flourishing.
We are becoming less “godly” though. Fewer humans believe in a god. But we ARE becoming more empathetic, less murderous, and our quality of life is greatly improving.
Books like this cover the trend: The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0052REUW0/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_T0YKF99WGXXK6S3B87N7
"We are enjoined in Micah to do justly and love mercy; in Exodus we are forbidden to commit murder; in Leviticus we are commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves; in the Gospels we are urged to love our enemies.
Yet think of the rivers of blood spilled by fervent followers of the books in which these well-meaning exhortations are embedded.
In Joshua and in the second half of Numbers is celebrated the mass murder of men, women, children, down to the domestic animals in city after city across the whole land of Canaan.
Jericho is obliterated in a ‘kherem’, a ‘holy war’.
The only justification offered for this slaughter is the mass murderers’ claim that, in exchange for circumcising their sons and adopting a particular set of rituals, their ancestors were long before promised that this land was their land.
Not a hint of self-reproach, not a muttering of patriarchal or divine disquiet at these campaigns of extermination can be dug out of holy scripture. Instead, Joshua ‘destroyed all that breathed, as the Lord God of Israel commanded’ (Joshua, x, 40).
And these events are not incidental, but central to the main narrative thrust of the Old Testament. Similar stories of mass murder (and in the case of the Amalekites, genocide) can be found in the book of Saul, Esther, and elsewhere in the Bible, with hardly a pang of moral doubt."
—Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
His book on the subject is also a must-have. A Universe from Nothing by Lawrence Krauss
May I recommend this book - A Mind for Numbers
Or you could work through the course which is free for now - Learning How to Learn
For Maths specifically, how about working through Khan Academy? Their practice exercises are, to me, pretty good.
People wonder why Elon is so hell-bent on acquiring Twitter. He told us during the shareholder meeting that it would advance his plans by 3 years.
This is consistent with what is known about how he calculates things:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KVI76ZS/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
Page 188:
"Sometimes he [Elon] wouldn't let you buy a part for $2,000 because he expected you to find it cheaper or invent something cheaper. Other times, he wouldn't flinch at renting a plane for $90,000 to get something to Kwaj [Island] because it saved an entire workday, so it was worth it. He would place this urgency that he expected the revenue in 10 years to be 10 million dollars a day, and that every day we were slower to achieve our goals was a day of missing out on that money." - Kevin Brogan, early SpaceX Employee
stress yan, future sakit ng ulo kapag nagkakamabutihan na kayo, kung wala sa isa sa inyo ang mag-sacrifice ng religion, usap na agad kayo habang maaga na need nyo mag hiwalay ng landas.
pakiramdaman mo din kung casual dating lang, go lang, minsan kasi ay gusto lang din ng girl sa inc na ma-experience yung kumawala sa social group na ginagalawan nya, for experience lang.
suggestion ko para sa win-win:
alis kayo both sa catholicism at inc, study humanism at atheism, saka studies/researches tungkol sa gawain ng mga cult groups.