What are /r/IWantToLearn's favorite Products & Services?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

Well considering you’re probably an adult. I’d recommended the Alfred Adult Level 1 book. I’ve played piano for 8 years and this is what my instructor uses for her beginning high school who have never even touched a piano. There’s 3 levels and all have pretty well rounded lessons. It teaches a lot of chords, note names, scales, and etc. good luck! Adult All-In-One Course: Lesson-Theory-Technic: Level 1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0882848186/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_.hRQAb5KQXXJC. If you ever need help shoot me a message

Meditate bro.

But for real that could be very helpful for all of those problems, most of which I've struggled with and made significant progress on through a concerted effort to relax and keep a calm, realistic perspective. Meditation is one of the best ways to strengthen this perspective so that you'll be able to maintain it when challenged by circumstance or your own inner dialogue. If you're interested in trying that route, a book that made a lot of sense to me and gave me better understanding of the goals of meditation is Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. Pick it up, check it out. All in all I recommend chipping away at these anxieties any way that you can, each day, patiently. Good luck my friend!

Edit: I also recommend stretching out. Work the tension out of your body. You won't realize how much you have and where it's hiding until you start working on it. If you want to do it proper, do some yoga, which is basically a physical element added to meditation (i.e. training your mind to relax to the pace of your breathing and movement). If you can get to a class, great, but that can be a lot to ask of yourself when you're depressed and your thoughts are scattered. I know that from experience. So just work on it in a guerrilla way. When you're in your room, think about where you're tense. Shoulders? Stretch those suckers out. Move them around. Be smart about it, don't hurt yourself, but just get in there and work on the problem. I'll be honest, I've been doing this for ~3 years in spare moments and it's just in the last year I've seen some serious, lasting change (although I've enjoyed progress throughout). It takes a long time and you have to curb your frustration, but god do I feel better. Almost miraculously so. Anyway, try that out. If you want some guidance, the website www.doyogawithme.com has some great videos of various length and difficulty that'll help you think about what you're doing. Once again, good luck!

Read the book "A mind for numbers" by Barbara Oakley and take the course "learning how to learn"

Link to course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn

Link to book: https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Numbers-Science-Flunked-Algebra/dp/039916524X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=a+mind+for+numbers&qid=1570212770&sr=8-1

Edit: if I remember correctly, you don't have to pay for the course if you're not able to. Hope this helps you :)

Read Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People (not affiliate). Then read it again. It's a classic book that's required reading at almost every business school. Most of the topics are directly applicable to your problem, but more importantly they're invaluable to other areas of life - which could indirectly improve your dates as well.

One of the key takeaways is that people are naturally self-centered. People tend to enjoy talking about themselves, so ask about them, their life, and their experiences.

Edit: turns out I own two copies of the book, so if you're in the US, I'm happy to mail you some Reddit love (aka the book).

When I was in uni, I had a difficult time studying math. Even though I was good at it, the material was always more boring than the comp sci classes (i.e., major classes). What I found helped the most was sitting someplace nice (think a shaded bench in a park) and reading the textbook aloud for a set period of time (around 20 minute chunks for 1 1/2 hours -- check out the Pomodoro technique).

Even if you find it boring, you know you've put in a consistent amount of effort. A consistent amount of effort will usually get you at least a B-. A consistent amount of effort plus a little extra studying before an exam will get you to a B+. Consistent effort may also make the material more intriguing because you understand it better, and that newly sparked interest may get you an A.

It's important to remember that you don't need to get an A+ in every subject all the time. Chasing a perfect GPA will only lead to burnout, and a 4.0 is not much more meaningful than a 3.8. If anything, a perfect GPA means that you sacrificed personal growth for minimal gains and you don't know how to prioritize work. I say this as someone who sustained a 4.0 for the first half of uni and only earned 1 B per 5 classes a semester for the remainder (otherwise all As).

Enjoy the subjects you like by putting in extra time. Respect the subjects you don't like by putting in consistent amount of less time. Finally, be open to possibly expanding your interests.

This is a very common question that a lot of people get stuck on when they realize they can't identify or don't have a passion. Consider rephrasing your question from "How do I turn my (current) passion into a career?" to "How do I have a career that I'm passionate about?" The latter is more realistic than the former because you're struggling to find your passion, and lacking it is a non-starter for your whole approach.

Studies tend to show that people who are happier in their careers are also those people who are good at what they do, along with a few other characteristics like possessing authority and autonomy over their tasks. So try asking yourself, "What would I like to be excellent at?" That's an easier question than anything involving passion.

I encourage you to read So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest For Meaningful Work, which will help you reformulate your questions into ones that provide better answers.

I would exercise caution with most 'speed reading' help books, they're the get rich quick scheme of wannabe intellectuals.

That being said, it's hard to understate the productivity of a skilled reader- the person who can rapidly digest and critically understand written word at the highest level is dangerously effective. Getting to this level takes more work than most speedreading guides will admit.

I've read all sorts of books on this topic and one stands head and shoulders above the rest: How to Read A Book - Mortimer Adler. Its an old book but a classic. If you truly want to improve reading speed AND comprehension, or just want some motivation, this is the definitive place to start in my humble experience. I'm sharing because this book helped me tremendously and I think it will for you as well.

Plenty of opportunity to become well-read in 2019. Best of luck!

P.S. the original edition of this book (1940) mentions prevalence of speed reading books... Fascinating that they were popular back then, and have been around much longer than one might think.

One key is to compartmentalize your thinking. When you write, just write. When you edit, just edit. When you are in "write mode", don't look for the perfect phrase, don't try to think about quality at all. Just get it down on paper. Do stream of consciousness. Vomit it out. Give yourself a set period of time when this is all you can do.

Then, when your write period is over, take a break. Then, put on your editor hat and go back over what you've written. Rinse and repeat.

Check out "The War of Art"and other books where writers discuss their process. Good luck!

I took a pretty interesting short MOOC from Coursera called Learning How To Learn. I highly recommend it.

It's very easy to follow, and it goes into a lot of good practices for learning, but also a lot of easy to follow science behind it, that really enlightens and encourages you to learn.

It goes into breaking down learning something, how much to study, how to study, when to study, etc. It goes into what your brain does when you sleep to "save" the things you're learning (neural connections, like the guy in this video said)

I would definitely recommend taking this free short course. It sounds like something you're interested in, and it really helped me.

The Coursera has a great course on this subject; learn how to learn
> This course gives you easy access to the invaluable learning techniques used by experts in art, music, literature, math, science, sports, and many other disciplines. We’ll learn about the how the brain uses two very different learning modes and how it encapsulates (“chunks”) information. We’ll also cover illusions of learning, memory techniques, dealing with procrastination, and best practices shown by research to be most effective in helping you master tough subjects.

I would recommend The Power of Habit by Michael Duhigg; aside from being an interesting read it also has some great tips about forming new habits.

I used to be a real night-owl, but after following some of the tips in the book I pretty much always wake up at 6 AM. Can't say that I always enjoy it, but I think that would be expecting a bit too much ;)

The gist of the technique is that you give a short-term reward for doing whatever you want to make into a habit. I love coffee, so what I did was that I bought a French press. Every morning, if I got up at my target time, I would take the time to prepare a nice cup of coffee with the french press.

Eventually, the first thing I thought of when the alarm went off was not how tired I was, but that I wanted that cup of french press coffee; this is the point where an action turns into a habit.

If you’re willing to spend a little money, buy The Food Lab by J. Kenji Lopez Alt. It is amazing. It’s a beautiful book with detailed documentation of experimentation with various methods / times / ingredients.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393081087/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_.GhIAb1F6S6CG

Edit: misspelled dude’s name

Python! Simple for beginners to hop straight in and complex enough to make sophisticated applications later on. I would say just grab this book and dive in head first. Or just look up videos on YouTube. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1593279280/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_Ult3FbQT9VY7X

Best way to learn is to pick one language and stick with it. You can learn others later!

Also, "The Coding Train" is a very fantastic and entertaining coding youtube channel!

Khan Academy is wonderful. Start from the basics, though, even if you think you're good. Mathematics builds upon itself, and without a proper foundation you can't really progress.

The Feynman Technqiue can be a good place to start. Basically entails learning a concept and then writing it down (or explaining it in your head) in a way that would be understandable to a class of 3rd graders. That way if there's any gap in your understanding you can figure out where you need to improve your understanding. Makes the ideas very strong in your mind like you are looking for.

You could also check out Moonwalking with Einstein. It sounds like that's more the sort of thing you're looking for. It goes into teaching the reader how to use the memory palace technique to develop a near perfect memory.

EDIT: Added the second paragraph.

A good introduction is this:

https://www.amazon.com/Neatest-Little-Guide-Market-Investing/dp/0452298628

Lays it all out in basic understandable terms, and also provides brief summaries of the most significant people in investing: Buffett, Graham, etc

For anyone that does read The Art of Invisibility I would also recommend reading Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World’s Most Wanted Hacker

It’s honestly a good read.

I think you probably mean that you don't want to be affected by emotions, because emotions are fickle and temporary.

Download a free PDF of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. It's very easy to read, and it's written almost like bullet points. If you find that it helps, subscribe to /r/Stoicism for other resources.

Being detached from your emotions is often unhealthy, but so is being governed by emotion. The trick is to remain in control of your emotions and act rationally; nothing can bother you unless you let it.

May I suggest you look into getting your ham radio license. I know, I know, it sounds weird, but ham radio is very alive and well. It can provide many benefits to you and your community. It will also provide you with a communication device that can give you many hours of enjoyment. With a technicians license you can now get a DMR radio and talk around the world. [HamStudy](www.hamstudy.org) is a free online resource to study. I also recommend Ham Radio Exam Google play store or Ham Radio Exam IPhone App store. These will teach you while giving you the exact questions and answers that will be on the exam. You can find a local club here Find A Club. The folks at the club will be more than willing to help. Also this is great starter radio Baofeng RD-5r. Here are some great apps for IPhone https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ham-radio-exam-tech/id601991935 . For Android https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.delasystems.hamradioexamtech Edit: a few words and add links

Get "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain"

Absolutely, completely and utterly indispensable for the beginning artist, teaches you much more valuable lessons than "start by drawing a circle"

http://thepiratebay.se/torrent/5662621/

You should check out 7 Cups of Tea! It’s an emotional support site for people who need someone to talk to. You can volunteer as a “listener.” You don’t need any credentials; the site will walk you through a quick and easy training course on how to effectively support people. The site will connect you to people who need someone to talk to, and you can chat with them in a messenger format.

While this won’t get you a degree or certification, it will give you valuable experience and let you test the waters, so to speak. It might be a good place to start.

Going back in time and never using the internet is really the only way.

An easy tool for deleting your accounts: http://justdelete.me/

But know that once your information is online, there really is no way to delete it for sure. I believe even facebook stores your account on their servers 'just in case' you decide to undelete it.

In addition your content is likely cached on google or archived on the wayback machine.

There's an app called Congress. I just started using it, but it seems great. You can follow certain people to see how they vote or what bills they introduce. You can look up specific bills and it gives you a link to their content. Pretty good so far.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sunlightlabs.android.congress

I know a pretty cheap book you can order on Amazon. I think this may be what you're looking for.

An Incomplete Education: 3,684 Things You Should Have Learned but Probably Didn't https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000S1LE3I/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_hkCCAb20QWKP3

You need to learn C and x86 first. C++ might be okay, but C is more closely linked with Assembly than C++.

Unfortunately the more unfortunate part is that you need a decent RE IDE to do this. Ida64 is the deadline facto suite used to do this. The free alternatives... Aren't as good from what I've heard of them (which is very little to be completely honest). And Ida64 pro can cost upwards of 5k... It's the de facto suite for a reason.

That being said, here's a really good book I bought that seems to cover things pretty in depthly:

https://www.amazon.com/Reversing-Secrets-Engineering-Eldad-Eilam/dp/0764574817/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1543927695&sr=8-4&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=reverse+engineering&dpPl=1&dpID=51CAVb1vneL&ref=plSrch

Keep in mind the assembly you'll be learning is MASM and that all assembly languages can be very different (but like all programming languages are usually conceptually the same).:

Hi, I'm a graphic designer

The main two tools we use are Adobe Indesign and Adobe Illustrator. Get familiar with them. Learn them like the back of your hand. Photoshop is useful to know, too, but not quite as important.

Read design books - Thinking with Type, The Vignelli Canon, The Anatomy of Design etc. Very useful resources to learn.

Learn typography, learn layouts and learn to utilise them. A good book for this is Making and Breaking the Grid.

Learn proper design processes - the research involved, the thumbnailing, the sketching etc before ever opening your design programs. There's a lot more to it than just learning the software. For most of my first year at university it wasn't even really designing anything, it was learning idea generation techniques more than anything.

This oughtta do it.

https://www.amazon.com/VIVO-Ghillie-Woodland-Camouflage-OUTD-V001M/dp/B00IZM7E2C/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1541951042&sr=8-3&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=gilly+suit&dpPl=1&dpID=51gk02sUfnL&ref=plSrch

Install Ubuntu + LAMP stack onto a spare computer, make a WordPress site.

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-install-wordpress-with-lamp-on-ubuntu-16-04

Develop the site out, make another site if you can. Make a blog and a real webpage, YouTube a few of those 2+ hour videos on intro WordPress sites, you have the time. Devote a week or two to those and boom you have a portfolio and marketable skills, go forth and work.

Don't beat yourself up if you don't pick it up on the first try, do it again and again, learn from mistakes, don't ignore success, and be patient with yourself, this is the hard part.

As most other people have said, start using a VPN. I have used quite a few in the past and written reviews with speedtests for some as well and the three best ones that I have used are PIA (Private Internet Access), CactusVPN and AirVPN. All VPN's have their strengths and weaknesses, but those three are pretty good across the board in terms of ease of use, simple GUI, no storing of logs that could lead to you being exposed, decent support, price, next to zero speed hit, use on multiple devices, app/internet killers (some VPN providers over use that phrase) that will kill your internet connection or app (qBitorrent/uTorrent) should the connection drop out, unlimited server switching and servers in countries.

Sorry for the over use of commas in the above sentence.

However, if you haven't used a VPN before, then I would advise that you check for DNS leaks when the VPN is active (most decent VPNs should protect you anyway) and also check to see if torrents are leaking any information regarding your connection. Test this on .

Using a VPN isn't 100% bullet proof and can't guarantee that you won't get caught but it will give you a great layer of anonymity when torrenting. That said, using a VPN for day-to-day internet surfing will give you a far greater level of privacy from your ISP or over-reaching sites/governments.

Don't go for a free VPN service though, get a paid-for one. You get what you pay for and they (the decent ones) are well worth the money.

I've found that purposefully building a habit is what keeps practice going. Charles Duhigg's The Power of Habit has all the information you need to learn how to do that, but I'll try to summarise it there:

• Find a cue for the beginning of your routine (example: if I finish having dinner, then I practice)
• Streamline your practice so that it can be mostly a routine you can engage easily and almost mindlessly in
• Reward yourself for engaging in the routine
• Keep track of your progress

I am definitely forgetting some steps, forgive me. . . But the book I referred to definitely has the answer you're looking for.

Mindfulness meditation. It trains your attention and builds your emotional intelligence. It gives you the power to stay with the present and not get "hooked" by thoughts and emotions so easily.

There's a lot of books on it nowadays, but I recommend "Search Inside Yourself" by Chade Meng Tan.

Good luck!

I often use OpenCulture when I feel as you do.

Lots of free courses, different languages, audiobooks, categories on lots of topics to learn about and more. Most of the videos/courses go through YouTube as well. It's not everything but its a neat directory for lots of educational content.

Right now I'm going through one of the Yale courses on Game Theory I found on the site. Fun stuff.

I use mint to keep track of budgets and stuff. Works pretty well. Not really a site to go for advice, but a good way to keep track of your money and have a good sense of what is going on. It alerts you if your over budget and stuff like that. Plus its free!

there are a few things i've been doing.

i am currently in the same place as you. i have made some strides. the main thing i am doing is to focus on changing my habits, one at a time.

the first thing i dropped was getting beer to drink every night. now i only drink socially outside of my house. right now my next habit i am breaking is when i step into the house each day. i have noticed that there are things i love doing, but i don't do them. for fear. for apprehension. for laziness.

like the drinking, i have rewired the reward centers in my brain to expect quick and easy satisfaction in the form of video games. so instead of coming home and sitting down to relax and game, i focus on what i am learning. right now i am learning programming and HTML. so i come home, walk the pup and go to the office with my notebook.

eventually this will be a new (and greatly rewarding) habit, the habit of coming home from hours of doing another persons work, and focusing on what i want and where i want to go.

this may not be for you, but Zen philosophy has helped me a lot as well. Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind is a great place to start. Steve Jobs said it was a huge influence for him and if anything, that man had focus and determination.

i also have been keeping a journal. when i get frustrated and fragmented in my psyche, i pull it out and order my thoughts by getting them out onto the page. it makes the daily wtf less.....big, if that makes sense.

GOOD LUCK! take it day by day, and remember that you make your own reality minute-to-minute. there is no good or bad situations, just good and bad approaches to those situations.

Honestly, I’m considering going to the Weather Channel for my news now. I never thought I would say that. Lol

Edit:

I visited weather.com and my previous instincts were right. It is mostly all about weather or natural disasters. That chart fooled me.

You win this time, chart.

www.khanacademy.com Go to the finance section. Watch videos take notes.

Book: The Intelligent Investor.

Software: Think or Swim (Get a Paper Money account and start messing around with fake money)

Look into retirement savings: IRA/401k (Regular vs Roth) Look into CDs for short term. If you're young, invest heavily for the long term with lots of stocks and few bonds. As you get closer to retirement, transition more to bonds than stocks as they are less volatile.

If you really want to dive in. Start reading up on buying and selling options (puts/calls) so you can buy "insurance" on your stocks. Simple example: Covered Call. It's not recommended since technically the risk is unbounded, but depending on the stock you are covering, it can be a fairly safe way to make a quick buck.

Don't know why ciggie guy is getting upvotes and OP has been downvoted. Smoking cigarettes (smoking anything) will cause your vocal chords to swell slightly. This lowers pitch for some people, but for most it just makes their voice sound raspy, as if they've got a cough.

Many factors produce the unique sound of your voice. Beginning in the lungs, air is exhaled to create an airstream in the trachea and across the larynx. Stretched horizontally across your larynx are vocal folds, which are also known as vocal cords. As air passes over them, the vocal cords vibrate very quickly to produce sounds. The pitch of your voice is largely determined by the length and tension of your vocal cords.

By themselves, the vocal cords produce just a buzzing sound. The parts of your body between the vocal cords and the outside world, such as the throat, nose, and mouth, act as a resonating chamber to turn those buzzing sounds into your voice.

By consciously focusing on any of these factors, you can change the way your voice sounds. Here is where the old adage rings true, practice makes perfect. Naturally, I have a higher pitched, nasally voice. At work and when I was in college, I was able to change the pitch of my voice by trying to "fake" it, and after a while it came with relative ease. I also play a lot of Dungeons and Dragons, so I've practiced different voices for all of my characters.

Charm is much more subjective. People find different qualities charming, for example a woman I'm dating now thinks my natural voice is attractive. If there is a specific person you think of when you imagine a charming voice, I'd practice emulating them for a few weeks.

Here is a WikiHow that has a few good suggestions.

Hope this helps!

Hey, it would be helpful if you choose a direction for your apps right now.

you can do one of two things :

• Use a game engine to make games which is much easier and faster

• Use the ASDK to make applications with different direction than gaming.

yes there are more options but getting familiar with the basics is what you should do right now.

once you've chosen your general direction, you can start learning.

if you have decided to go with game development, your best two choices are game maker studio (for its simplicity) and unity (for the abundance of tutorials covering ANYTHING you can think of).

if you have chosen to use the android software development kit, you can get started here https://developer.android.com/studio/index.html

hope this helped you a bit !

edit : the reason i didn't even mention developing for IOS is the expensive developer account price compared to google, and me having no experience with xcode / swift / IOS sdk . If someone can provide and entry explanation into IOS development that would be great !

You can start with stock, bond markets, and monetary policy. There's a really well illustrated book to called The Wall Street Journal Complete Money and Investing Guidebook.

Then you can use Khan Academy to get a basic understanding of supply and demand and various other economic principals.

From there you can start getting into various ideologies like communism, and classical liberalism. You only really need a summary level knowledge of this stuff if you just have an interest.

Then it's just reading about a countries:

• Monetary policy
• Trade agreements
• Tax policy
• Regulations
• And what trade unions they belong to or have (EU, NAFTA, OPEC, BRICs)

You can also understand a lot about a country how they shape regulations, who they trade with, and so on by figuring out what they import and export. Here's a site that does that pretty easily.

As another poster said, you need a strong math background. If you complete every math course Khan Academy offers, your math background will probably be strong enough to tackle most or all undergraduate Physics classes.

But from there, your interests will become more specific. Right now, you may just want to understand "Physics". But as you learn more, your interests will naturally narrow.

Maybe you want to be an expert in non-contact forces. Perhaps you're more interested in particle Physics. Even still, you might find yourself pursuing quantum Physics. Don't be afraid to specialize after you gain a basic understanding of the subject.

Here's a TL-DR to-do list of ordered steps to learning Physics:

*Learn enough math to take a Calculus class.

*Learn Calculus I. This course should do: https://www.coursera.org/learn/calculus1

*Learn about Mechanics.

*Learn about Electricity and Magnetism.

*Learn a thing or two about Thermodynamics and Quantum Mechanics.

Mostly, EXPLORE! Read about relativity, keep up with modern research (google scholar is your friend), and never be afraid to email a researcher or professor! The worst thing they could do is not respond.

Good luck!

Random piece of knowledge that I'll never be able to bring up any where else: VPNs based in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States are NOT safe for hackers seeking to do work in those countries because they are all part of the five eyes intelligence network. I recommend CactusVPN as it is based in Moldova and is a lot safer

There's a book called "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" which is considered a necessary textbook by art teachers. It takes you from starting out to drawing from the mind.

There are also websites out there that present you images you have to draw before time runs out. It's a little stressful at first, but that goes away and it makes you a better artist. Let me try to find the link....

The now classic introduction to AI is Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Perspective by Russell and Norvig (director of research at Google):

http://aima.cs.berkeley.edu/

It is a great book. In recent years, machine learning has taken up an increasingly large part of the landscape of AI techniques and research. Andrew Ng (professor at Stanford) has a good introduction to machine learning course on Coursera:

https://www.coursera.org/learn/machine-learning

If you have a background in CS, those two resources will be accessible and give you a great foundation from which to learn more advanced methods. Good luck!

Try these courses:

https://www.coursera.org/course/gametheory

https://www.coursera.org/course/gametheory2

The first one is a really good intro. Unfortunately, there are not much practical exercises - just a few tests after each lecture, but theory is nice.

Can't tell anything about the second course - haven't tried it yet...

Hope this will help. Good luck.

If you’re serious about this, go to your local library and start borrowing from the “great courses” series. They have everything on the classical world. Hey are so wonderful and include:

—classical music (which is an umbrella for medieval renaissance, classical (about 1750-1850, off my head), romantic, impressionist, serialist, minimalism, world Music as the internet opens the world of composers [i didn’t mention jazz, though it’s a journey all its own]) —art history (goes through same time line) —philosophy, —rhetoric and reason (you’d be surprised how very important rhetoric in Greek through now has become, and the teacher is a very interesting person)

I would start with music. It’s a great intro to all the time periods and the reasons behind them.

The Great Courses - Music

Also - because I had my masters in music history - I encourage you to try this method rather than read a book. You don’t get the same sound layout. I gave this method a try just to refresh, and it a great job , for free at the library🤗

I’ll leave you with a treat. There’s a Spanish tune - “Folles de Espagna.” It’s maybe 16 measures long. That’s maybe 16 pulses, or 8 pulses depending how quickly they are going. This medieval consort led by unsung virtuoso Jordi Savall is one of the hidden gems under the umbrella of “classical,” but is not classical be any means. It’s from 300 year before. So begins your education:)

I hope it inspires you!

Jordi Savall and Consort - “Folles de Espagna”

Going out on a limb here: I presume that you are talking about a college/university degree and that you live in the US, UK, NZ or another English speaking country.
Probably the cheapest (for someone from the US) degree would be from University Of The People, but you are limited to business administration and computer science.
Another option would be Open University - somewhat more expensive, but a whole course will still cost less than a semester at an American college.
You could also look at universities in Canada, South Africa or India

I hope this gives you a starting point.

Nobody has answered your question better than Warren Buffet's mentor, Benjamin Graham. Get his two books, The Intelligent Investor and Security Analysis. They are tough books but extremely comprehensive. If you read and understand them, you will be well set. If you think they are too much work, then you're better off investing in diverse funds with low fees as other posters have suggested.

I'd recommend YNAB, go check out r/YNAB and try a free trial from https://www.youneedabudget.com/

YNAB isn't just an income/expense tracker, it's also a bit of a different mindset from other things. Like Mint for example, Mint is great for tracking where your money went but not where it is going. YNAB takes the philosophy of giving every dollar a job as soon as you get that dollar, not before, and then updating your budget when you actually spend that money.

I had a budget sheet in excel for bills and income, then I had Mint, but when I got YNAB I really got a much better idea where my money was going and I've been able to save so much more money with it.

Well every phone is going to be a little different in assembly/dis assembly so your best bet it to find a repair guide for each device.

Go to IFixIt.com they have step by step repair guides and tear downs of most major devices (not just phones). Once there go to "Guides" > "Phones" > " Your Brand" > "Your Phone". If they don't have a repair guide the tear down is usually just as good but it's an entire tear down walk through so just stop and reverse where necessary.

If there's a repair guide it will usually have options for the individual part (Screen, touch panel, bezel, etc).

As an example here is the Iphone 5 repair guide:

http://www.ifixit.com/Device/iPhone_5

Edit: If you're learning so that you can charge people to repair their phones then make sure to use proper tools. IFixIt sells several tool kits for tear down/repair purposes. If you just use a screwdriver to pry the phone apart you risk damaging the unit both cosmetically and functionally. Your customers will not be happy. Also do not make your customers any promises you're not prepared to keep.

Investing is controversial as shit, but if you wanted a few resources, look at Joel Greenblatt's "The Little Book That Beats the Market" Its fairly simple, and will give you an understanding of where to begin, "The Intelligent Investor" and "Security Analysis" by Graham and Dodd explore and form the foundation for value investing (buying cheap and selling expensive).

I just started to so this to make room for my Vive, and it is liberating. I recommend starting to read Marie Kondo's "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up"; it gives a new perspective, especially if you're like me and tend to hang onto things.

Mindfulness meditation.

Mindfulness in Plain English

MIT and Harvard Study on the benefits of meditation

Read The Sex God Method. Really changed how I looked at sex and has definitely helped me up my game in the bedroom.

Edit: I have the pdf version if you’d like I can send it to you. It also helps you develop more of a “dominance” sort of attitude that helps out not only in bed but being confident all over.

Edit 2: okay I think I got everybody that wanted the pdf if I didn’t please message me!

Edit 3: https://libgen.pw/download/book/5a1f04c43a044650f504deaa

Here’s the link for everyone since I’ve had like 25 people ask for it and I’m sure there’ll be more!

Edit 4: nothing about this book makes it a “sexual assault guide” the whole point of the book is basically saying “hey, a lot of women really aren’t into that vanilla stuff and actually enjoy rough freaky sex unlike you are lead to believe growing up” it is very red pill-ish in a sense but you don’t need to take every aspect of it to heart.

Have you thought about geocaching? It's a "real world treasure hunt," which sounds pretty damn interesting. Not to mention, it's a really cool way to get you to explore your city/surrounding areas plus you pick up a few treasures along the way. The website: http://www.geocaching.com/

• Read more books. Try this one out: https://www.amazon.com/Peregrine-York-Review-Books-Classics/dp/1590171330. This will transform the English language for you, forever.
• Practice not using filler words, such as "Um", "Uh", "Like", etc.

If you're interested in memory and mind palaces the book Moonwalking with Einstein is a great read about that kind of stuff. I'll PM you a link, let me know if it works.

I've gotten enough requests, and no Mods have said anything so to make life easier I'm just posting the link here: http://www.filedropper.com/moonwalkingwitheinstein-foerjoshua

Reading will help. Any genre, but someone with a bit of flair. F Scott Fitzgerald, George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, Douglas Adams, Andrea Camilleri etc. You don't want to rip them off, but it's a good start

Coursera An introduction to interactive programming.

Programming course in Python with heavy game focus. Oregon trail type programming included.

Looks like it started last week - perfect timing :)

https://www.coursera.org/course/interactivepython1

Take improv classes, go to a local toastmasters club, volunteer to read books out loud.

Anything that gets you practice with talking more.

Buy a domain (Google Domains is cheap and easy to use), and use a free Github account to host it: Github Pages.

You'll have to learn Git if you aren't familiar with it, but it's a super powerful tool any dev should know.

If you want something like a blog, you can use Jekyll. Fair warning it's a bit more effort than just static html/css.

Search /r/PixelArt. There are plenty of links in the sidebar for tutorials. All free (AFAIK). But those tutorials will only teach you the basic theory. To progress, you must paint on your own. You can check linked subreddit for inspiration and note the different styles and techniques of different people. If you still lack the inspiration, visit Pixel Dailies. I also recommend you get a software dedicated to pixelart, because you don't really need something as complicated as Photoshop. There are some free web applications, but I recommend (from personal experience) Aseprite, which costs 15$, or you can download source code and compile it yourself. Alternatively, I heard that Pyxel Edit is cool enough too, but it's probably one of those programs abandoned by the devs in beta.

Dietitian here. This is a common thing to learn in Registered Dietitian programs with a high clinical focus (like mine). You might start by googling 'nutrition assessment' or 'nutrition physical examination'. This type of investigation is becoming more and more common with the ADA, but there's another organization that really spearheaded it. I'm trying to come up with that organization's name. Please hold.

Edit: The name I was looking for was Mary Ann Kight, at the University of Arizona. Still can't find the name of her organization. Doesn't look like she has a lot of secular publishings, but she pops up quite often in a Google Scholar search. That's a lot of articles to wade through. I think I have a handbook of this stuff in my library at home, let me edit this again after work today.

Here is how I would get started:

• Find a suitable VPN
• Spoof your mac adress/set up a VM (Virtual Machine)
• Register new email (Through the VPN with MAC adress spoofed/inside your VM)
• Create your blog using the new email applying the same security measures as above.
• Never log in to your email or blog (or even visit it) outside your spoofed MAC adress/VM and/or without passing through the VPN.

Unless your intentions are illegal, the above should suffice. An alternative to the above would be doing everything from a public computer that cannot be tied to you (Hard to come by these days.) or skip the VPN and do everything on public networks (this will jeopardize the email and blog security).

If nothing else, I hope this points you in the right direction!

EDIT: If all you want to do is keep it secret from family, friends etc then http://10minutemail.com/ and http://blog.com/ will do the trick, just make sure to copy the temporary email adress (as it is your blog.com login id) and the blog password as you wont be able to recover it in any way.

By "understand music" I'm assuming you mean like music theory? www.musictheory.net is a wonderful resource to start you off, some of it may seem too easy at first but stick to it and it'll get challenging. Past that, I would honestly recommend picking up a textbook. Music in Theory and Practice is the best damn textbook you can get that takes you from "what are notes" to late romantic era macro analysis of chord relationships. It's pricey but it's good. Tonal Harmony is another good one, and is a much better deal I linked to one on Amazon for $50. I know spending a lot of money on a textbook seems like a waste when we have the Internet, but they are both textbooks that you will keep and continue to use and reference for years. I own both of those because I needed them for music theory classes at different universities, but even without a professor to lecture, the material in there is pretty self explanatory. Let me know if you have any questions / want a better explanation, I hope I understood your question correctly!

Edit: I forgot to add [/r/musictheory](www.reddit.com/r/musictheory) is available too, but a lot of posts there assume the reader already knows quite a bit about theory, it isn't exactly a resource for someone wanting to begin learning. The sidebar there might have some useful stuff though.

I would learn some basics online or through private lessons. For classical music, there are some technique barriers that will make a piece super easy once you know some general rules. For pop or other songs, technique will make it really easy. I personally like the Faber book series and there is one made for older beginners. I've never used this particular book, but I have used his original series for younger students, which I think is fantastic.

https://www.amazon.com/Accelerated-Piano-Adventures-Older-Beginner/dp/1616772050/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1518715871&sr=8-3&keywords=faber+and+faber+piano+book+1

If you're interested, you can PM me and I can help set you up through Skype. I can do all the basic stuff like proper posture/hand position stuff to get you started.

Get Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain (not a referral link).

Follow all of the exercises. It takes a lot of the mysticism out of drawing and makes it a skill you can pick up, practice and become better at.

1. Learn about security, best practice, hardware/offline wallets.

2. Diversify investments. Personally I'd recommend 70% BTC, 25% ETH and 5% LTE or another altcoin.

3. Research. I found this site really handy to monitor prices: https://coinmarketcap.com

I've been working my way through Learning How To Learn at coursera and in a short time I've noticed a marked improvement in my ability to retain information.

Not really, you could get into making 3D models in blender and animating and such. However you can't do anything with that without learning how to program. If you want to mod you're stuck learning how to program. This is where I learned, this is where most people on reddit suggest to learn from.

Check out /r/learnprogramming or /r/learnpython

OK, logical thinking and thinking "outside the box" are two different types of thinking although one helps with the other.

If you're just starting out then there are two things that I suggest you do.

One is play sudoku. I have found that a daily game of sudoku will tell me how able to think logically I am that day. I recommend The Daily Sudoku. Really you don't get into using much logic until you get to the "very hard" graded puzzles.

Once you have learned to do those then the next thing will be to head over to Code Academy and learn a programming language, I suggest PHP.

These two things will both teach you to think logically and reward you for doing so.

The thinking outside of the box bit may or may not come with experience. People tend to either have or not have the skill from a young age but the good news is that logic+experience+knowledge looks pretty much like it to most people.

Have fun and good luck.

Step 1: You need fundamental thinking skills. Why? Because thinking skills are the foundation of everything you do. I recommend you read the book, Teach Yourself To Think by Edward de bono. And start to apply it religiously to everything you do. You are only 18. Go overzealous in how you apply this learning until you are 22 or so.

Step 2: Something really interesting happens. When you have a good thinking system, you will be able to learn stuff more effectively. Its like learning ABC's and noticing how you get more good at reading books. Similar things will happen when you start to deal with your day to day problems with a fundamentally good thinking system. You will get more efficient at pointing exact problems and start to get a knack to pinpoint to a possible solution out of the many.

There is nothing exotic about common sense. Common sense is just an educated guess based on your education and experience. Don't worry about it. This part is something you can't hurry up. Once you master the basics, this sort of aptitude and intelligence about those topics builds up naturally on its own as time goes on. Take for example, your skills at navigating your city by car. Chances are, you already know a few best routes from your school/college to home on your own without google maps. You have the "common sense" to notice which road has more traffic and which road is terrible roads and which one you would rather go.

https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Deceived-Definitive-Detecting-Deception/dp/0967999855

Don’t Be Deceived by Mark McClish

Note: I get nothing from the amazon link, just the link to the copy that’s in my amazon library.

It makes me happy to see so many people asking about meditation. The world would be a better place if more people did it :)

I'd recommend beginning with Mindfulness in Plain English and then heading over to r/meditation

Good luck my friend, and feel free to message me if you have any questions :)

The thing is, you're trying to tackle very inter-related yet not exactly the same issues at once - you want to protect your data from hackers and ensure the privacy of your data. Generally speaking, working on the latter usually solves the issue with the former but not vice versa.

To give you an example of what I mean let's address your question regarding DDG being recommended over Google, that's is because DDG claims to not track your searches, ie they claim to not associate any searches you make with your IP or any other identifiable data.

Now let's say you still use Google, while Google will still datamine the shit out of your they will not go out of their way to hack your personal data. That's downright illegal and they have much much better ways of making money say by using collected data (from your searches, your mail, etc) to sell you advertisements. Yes, they can have a data breach but that's something that can happen to almost any company that's why you need to be responsible regarding your own safety.

Back to your actual issue, there are many subreddits like /r/privacy and /r/privacytoolsIO where they will provide you suggestions regarding services and products that ensure your data's security while also suggesting services that respect your privacy. Apart from checking out the Privacy Tools website for their recommendations, the general tips would be:

• Use a password manager, this one's one of the biggest IMO. Use something like Bitwarden or KeepassX which will let you generate long long passwords that you don't need to remember. Just remember your master password and that's it.

• Enable 2FA on all your devices. Check this site to see whether websites you use support 2FA. SMS is NOT a good 2FA method, use a proper app like Google's Authenticator, Duo, etc or a hardware token.

• Use a VPN, won't speak much on this as it's a rabbit hole. Checkout r/VPN and /r/vpnreviews for help.

I highly recommend Learn Python the Hard Way. Also, this website seems to be a lot of fun.

Seriously, good luck to you! If you have any more questions, or want any more resources, don't hesitate to ask me or send me a PM!

Isn’t there a method called Stanford notes or some shit? You write down the notes a certain way. I think it’d be more helpful than cramming a shit ton of pink and orange bullshits into a page.

https://evernote.com/blog/timeless-note-taking-systems-for-students/

I have not read it, but someone told me that Neal Cooper's book on Neuroplasticity helped them change habits.

Never cook cold steaks. Take them out about 30 minutes before you plan on grilling them. Rub in seasoning of your choice on both sides.

Get yourself an instant read digital meat thermometer. I use this one:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GRFHXVQ/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I like my steak medium. So I get my grill nice and hot (450F), throw room temperature steaks on the grill for 3 minutes. Flip, grill for 3 more minutes. Then test the temperature. For medium, 145F is the recommended internal temperature. So when the internal temp is around 140F and take the steak off the grill. If the temperature isn't 140F yet, put it back on for another 2 minutes. Once temp reach 140F. Let it rest for 5 minutes. Internal temp will rise another 5 degrees or so and cook a bit more after you remove from the heat.

The three most important things are to make sure the steak isn't cold. Cold steak sticks to your grill. And 2nd, make sure your grill is plenty hot so you sear the outside and trap the juices inside. Lastly, try to find steaks about the same thickness. If you have some steaks that are 1/4 inch, some that are 1/2 inch and some that are 3/4 inch thick, the cooking times will be all over the place.

Good luck!

I picked up this book for roughly the same reasons (wanting to get what I want out of life), and I found it very beneficial.

https://www.amazon.com/Assertiveness-Stand-Yourself-Respect-Others/dp/1495446859/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1521513767&sr=8-1&keywords=assertiveness

Biggest part of being an adult? Doing shit that you don't want to do and not bitching about it.

Some people never learn how to do it. Here's the thing, though: you feel good about yourself after you do it. Whether it's a task at work or leaving the house to do something social, you'll feel good once you actually do it.

If you just appease the selfish, lazy side of yourself constantly, you'll never achieve anything to be proud of. This will keep your self-esteem low and become a self-fulfilling prophecy of your inferiority to others.

Challenge yourself. Set goals, work hard, and achieve them. If it were easy then everyone could do it. You're obviously unhappy, and there's only one person who can change that, and that's you. And once you finish doing all the shit that your selfish, depressed side is telling you is just not worth it or is too hard, you'll feel great.

If you need some extra motivation, I highly recommend Steven Pressfield's <em>The War of Art</em>. It introduces the concept of Resistance and how it can permeate every undertaking you attempt and how to overcome it, and is useful for both creatives and just anyone who feels stuck in a rut.

• Stick to a schedule is a key thing.If couldn't finish everything you wanted to do in one slot too bad... Do it in a free slot.

• Use a program like SelfControl if you work on your PC a lot like I do.

• Reward yourself when you do stuff you don't want to do at all, if you're done some shitty Mid Terms go for a drink, that way there's a certain positive association.

http://www.professormesser.com

Free videos teaching about the basics of IT so you can get certified. I don't plan on getting any certs but this guy is great. The videos are teaching me just about everything that I've wanted to know about computers for the past 2 years but couldn't figure out where to find to information without paying for courses.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004H4XI5O/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&amp;btkr=1

This is something that I've been working on and it's a work in progress so I make no claim to being an expert. This book was offered to me as a way of learning a new paradigm for how memory works and i'm giving it a shot. It's something that I already did at a smaller level to remember things. It's given me a deeper understanding and more tools for the toolbox. Good luck!

How to Read a Book. Actually really good and useful.

Square Foot Gardening. (Check your local library; you want the second or third edition.) The book will take you through all the steps. It was designed to be an easy, reliable, and complete method for growing vegetables. A few tradeoffs: Raised beds need to be filled with something, which can get expensive. (SFG uses a combination designed for consistent results called "Mel's Mix", which IIRC is equal parts vermiculite, peat, and compost.) OTOH if you're in an area where the soil might be contaminated, you'll need a raised bed anyway. Raised beds aren't great in really hot areas; they overheat and dry out too quickly in the summer. The normal SFG raised bed is only 6" deep, limiting the kinds of vegetables you can grow; 12" is more versatile but also more expensive.

Be curious, I mean if I want to start a business for example I would read 5 books on this topic because I have 0 knowledge in it or let it be finances, health, relationship etc. Just make sure you continuously learn something, challenge your old ways of thinking. Read classic, the books that stood the test of time.

There are many great book out there, look up some reading lists, like this for example and pick something for yourself: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7427.Reddit_Recommendations

I liked "The True Believer" by Eric Hoffer, "The China Study" by Colin Campbell, "The Richest Man in Babylon" by George S. Clason, "Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius ... there are just so many great books out there, I can count on and on, but I recommend you to read what you personally feel is interesting to you.. you will never know which book will make a huge impact on you.

I have ptsd, depression, anxiety, as well as some other issues. The thing that has helped me the most wasn't meds and it wasn't therapy, rather it was learning and practicing mindfulness. It's got a ton of scientific backing showing it's effectiveness. Go to your local library or look online for a free copy of "Full Catastrophe Living" by Jon Kabat-Zinn.

I'd also youtube and look up "Zinn Mindfulness" and all the guided mindfulness recordings are on there for the various mindfulness exercises for free.

If you listen to one every day and simply do what it says to do, non-judgmentally, you will see the best results after 9 weeks. It's like working out, though, you have to maintain it by doing it at least 5 days a week. Bigger picture, 45mins out of your day that is helping with your neuroses is well worth it.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is a good place to start :)

Also How to Win Friends and Influence People is great for learning how to be an adult in a social setting and look good while doing it.

You should check out this TED talk on classical music: http://www.ted.com/talks/benjamin_zander_on_music_and_passion.html

Other than that you should just try to find a composer you like and go from there. There's a lot of classical music and there's definitely something for everyone.

Coursera's <em>Learning How to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects</em>

There's an abbreviated version of this course on Youtube. Look up "Barabara Oakley" and "leaning how to learn".

Check out a book about writing screen plays. Screen plays are broken down into acts and beats. Everything has a purpose to move the story forward. Act 1 shows you the setting and the character and ends with a problem, Act 2 shows you the characters trying to solve the problem (the meat of the story) and ends with them either solving it or not, and Act 3 is what happens afterwards, the resolution. Scenes actually follow that same structure as well, each one being a sort of mini story. The beats help dictate the pace, if you miss a beat or take too long on one you will lose the audience.

Get that down and then frame your own stories/conversations the same way.

EDIT: This is a good one. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/story-robert-mckee/1100538146?ean=9780060391683&amp;pcta=n&amp;st=PLA&amp;sid=BNB_DRS_Core+Shopping+Textbooks_00000000&amp;2sid=Google_&amp;sourceId=PLGoP193&amp;k_clickid=3x193

Check out the Feynman technique. Basically you take a sheet of paper, and write out a concept as simply as possible as if you were attempting to teach it to someone else. If you're struggling to simplify a certain portion of a concept, that's where you need to focus your attention. The more you write and simplify the concepts, the easier it is to ingest and memorize. You can continue to simplify and rewrite as you learn the concept more fully, which in turn will help your memorization of the concept.

https://collegeinfogeek.com/feynman-technique/

https://lifehacker.com/the-feynman-technique-helps-you-study-faster-and-retain-1790501936

I hope that helps.

http://www.khanacademy.org/science/computer-science/

Here's a LPT: don't just watch video's and expect you're learning. You need a project. Pick something you want to make, and make it. Pick small things to start with, so you don't get demotivated when you're stuck.

You are going to get stuck at some point, that's when you need to use google. There's ALWAYS someone that has come across the same problem you're trying to fix.

Good luck!

First thing https://ninite.com

Use it to create a handy way of updating all your software. This is really important. Keeping all of your software up to date will keep you protected most of the time

Making sure you're on the latest version of whatever version of Windows you use. If you can upgrade to Windows 10

Use something like malware bytes regularly will help but the most important thing is avoiding dodgy websites.

Don't click the links in emails. If you want to go to a website after receiving an email just open your Web browser and navigate to it. This will keep you protected from email scams.

That's about it. An anti virus program may help, avast is very popular. This will give added protection on top of windows firewall.

I think you are describing confidence and intellectual curiosity. To me laziness would describe following a procedure without bothering to understand it and being done when you get an answer.

Anyway, I know it is common to talk about being lazy, but I think a lot of time people are talking about a strong aversion to menial and boring work. Consider, for example, some boring task that takes one hour, that you'll have to perform once week for a couple months, and the alternative of spending two or three days automating the task. Even if it takes more time to automate, at least that wouldn't be painfully boring work! You might even learn something new. On the other hand, there are people who really wouldn't be bothered by doing repetitive work, and who would not see the process of automating something as an opportunity to be creative.

To the OP's question, I highly recommend the Stanford/Coursera course on Mathematical thinking. It places a strong emphasis on the distinction between matching patterns in order to get the answer so that you're done with a problem, and really engaging with the material.

In many other disciplines I think there is a focus on being results-oriented, and where having high standards and being mindful or rigorous is discounted as being frivolous or playing around. A lot of the joy of mathematics is that doing things well is the result you are ultimately looking for, and that you don't have to settle for shortcuts that are sloppy for pragmatic reasons.

Spendy ways to speed up your laptop:

• Swap hard drive for an SSD.

• Increase RAM to the maximum supported by your OS (4 Gb for 32-bit, 8 Gb for 64-bit). Note that if it's an older laptop, you might not be able to get larger RAM modules for it and if you can, they might be more expensive than it's worth. I wouldn't consider using second-hand RAM unless you get it for free or know for a fact that it's been handled carefully.

Non-spendy ways:

• Swap to a less graphic-intense interface. You can go into Windows advanced system settings and tell it to prioritise performance over appearance. If you use a Windows version that supports Aero, turn it off.

• Either set Windows to automatically manage swap file space, or configure swap file space to be 1.5 x the amount of RAM you have. Make sure there's at least that amount of free space on the hard drive. Running without a swap file or with restricted swap file space will slow you down a lot.

• Get rid of programs that like to run update services in the background. Google Drive, iTunes, etc.

• Consider replacing fat programs with thin ones. Sumatra PDF instead of Adobe Acrobat, Sylpheed instead of MS Outlook, etc.

• If you use the laptop for internet browsing, email and routine word processing/spreadsheets, think about ditching Windows for a Linux version with a lightweight desktop environment, like Lubuntu. Or go for a Linux variant designed for older hardware like Puppy. Both of these have the advantage that you can run them from a live CD, so there's no need to install them.

Methods that only make sense on REAL old hardware/software:

• Run a registry cleaner (but make sure to back up your existing registry first).

• Install a utility to defrag your registry and Windows swap file on startup. Booting your laptop will take longer, but the tradeoff is it runs slightly quicker afterwards.

Let's start with some basics.

Terminology: Kbps= Kilobits per second

ALAC= Apple lossless audio codec

FLAC= Free lossless audio codec, further reading https://xiph.org/flac/ "an audio format similar to MP3, but lossless, meaning that audio is compressed in FLAC without any loss in quality. This is similar to how Zip works, except with FLAC you will get much better compression because it is designed specifically for audio"

FLAC stands out as the fastest and most widely supported lossless audio codec, and the only one that at once is non-proprietary, is unencumbered by patents, has an open-source reference implementation, has a well documented format and API, and has several other independent implementations.

Wav= CD Quality 1411Kbps

Aiff= CD Quality 1411Kbps

For Wav think PC standard, Aiff Apple standard, both are identical, just packaged differently and both can be used by both platforms, format wars kind of like Beta vs. VHS tape.

FLAC= around 1000Kbps

ALAC= around 1000Kbps

Both FLAC and ALAC can be uncompressed to Wav/Aiff

MP3= lossy can be as low as 32kbps to as high as 320kbps

AAC= Apple's version of MP3, can be as low as 32kbps to as high as 320kbps

Can actually be up-converted to FLAC, ALAC, or even Wav/Aiff but no information is uncompressed, remember mp3 and aac are lossy meaning information is taken out and lost forever. If you up-convert to FLAC, ALAC or Wav/Aiff you just add a bunch of 0000's making a bigger file size but no increase in audio quality.

There's a fair amount of documentation here: https://www.sharelatex.com/learn

There's also an interactive tutorial here: https://www.writelatex.com/help/28-im-new-to-latex-how-do-i-use-it

You can also use those sites to write documents without installing anything free (disclaimer, my company is linked to writelatex)

Play classic adventure games. They require patience and test your observation skills. Every skill can be improved upon and learned.

Try this one which I just played and felt it was fantastic!

Yeah, one of these things is not like the others. Just the first few pages of Matthew Walker's Why We Sleep makes that clear. Don't know whether it's a year-long project, but of the items on the list it merits top priority.