(Part 3) Top products from r/CasualConversation

Sure! I know exactly what you mean. So, I will say that a lot of the most interesting stuff in Fantasy is (and has for a while) being done in YA fantasy, and I don't mean stuff like Twilight.

Garth Nix's Abhorsen series (starting with Sabriel) is excellent. Melina Marchetta's Finnikin of the Rock is kind of along the lines of what you're talking about, but is really well done.

Just about anything by Dianna Wynne Jones is great, I will call out specifically Howl's Moving Castle (the inspiration for the Miyazaki film of the same name) and also her 6 part [Chronicles of Chrestomanci] (http://www.amazon.com/Chronicles-Chrestomanci-Charmed-Lives-Christopher/dp/006447268X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417629757&sr=1-1&keywords=chronicles+of+chrestomanci).

If you're in the mood for something more adult, I really enjoyed Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel series, starting with Kushiel's Dart, but that gets into some S&M stuff, which, YMMV.

And then Terry Pratchett's Discworld. Which is just fantastic.

Got into 3D mostly because I knew a couple of people who were going to the same school for it, which pushed me to go in the same year as them instead of taking a gap year like I had originally planned.

I always planned on going into the R&D side of things, doing concept art etc. But then one day in a team project, I drew the short straw and was left to animate our characters. I fucking smashed those animations. After all that time avoiding animation- it ended up being the thing I was best at, and the thing I enjoyed the most. Finding you have a natural talent for something you enjoy is a great way to get motivation.


On a side note, if you are serious about Game design; I highly recommend This book. Its a resource I keep going back to when I run into problems. It truly covers everything.

That's actually super interesting. I knew Sparta was more gender equal and that at least some of that was due to the whole warrior culture thing, but it's a really interesting topic.

Come to think of it, most of the other pre-20th century cultures that were fairly egalitarian were also warrior cultures or nomads. The Huns and Vikings are both pretty good examples - and there's a very fascinating book on the Mongol Queens that is available here.

I haven't personally gotten one, but I've heard good things about some micro quadcopters on amazon. To my understanding, they work pretty well for their size for the most part, but the blades can break off if you're not careful with it.

Fiance: Cambridge Satchel Company bag for his new job in July after graduation! The Tim and Eric and Always Sunny books too.

Fiance's mom: She has a lot of inspirational quotes throughout the house, so this would be funny.

I have no idea what to get his brother, their dog, or my parents, or my brother. I'll figure out the humans eventually because oddly enough, the dog is the hardest to buy for! He has enough food and treats, has a sensitive stomach (bones are awful for him), doesn't care about toys, freaks out if any sort of clothing is put on him including blankets... I had to get creative last year and got him licorice essence. It acts like a catnip for dogs, and it worked but everything smelled like licorice for a while so that stopped being fun quickly.

sounds like it might be a mild case of social anxiety. have you tried meditation? also, I really love the book 'slowing down to the speed of life'. The first time I read it, it was like flipping a switch in my head. It basically talks about two modes of thinking -- analytical and free-flow. Analytical is what you want to do when you have all the factors to make a decision (e.g. solving a math problem), and free flow is for basically everything else.

problem with using analytical thinking when you DON'T know all the variables is that you'll just keep on churning the same bit in your mind like a piece of cud. and this is usually the mode we go to when we're stressed, depression, anxious. so we just go over the same thing over and over again, amplifying our feelings.

there's a lot more in there, and it's probably the book that's changed my life the most (and only $2!), so I'd definitely recommend it

I had the same New Year's resolution a few years ago and ended up reading 65 books that year. I ran out of books I wanted to read and scrambled to find more. So you'll have weeks you'll read anything you can get your hands on which can be hit or miss, but I liked being taken out of my normal, nonfiction, reading patterns.

Here are a few If my favorites:

The Hot Zone by Richard Preston

Demon In The Freezer by Richard Preston

The Snakehead by Patrick Keefe

John Dies At The End by David Wong

Into Thin Air by John Krakauer

Death's Acre by Dr. Bill Bass

Biohazard by Ken Alibek

If you want to expand your mind, try freecodecamp, if you want to push yourself physically start doing 5x5 or train for a half-marathon. Pick up a book and start reading, have you read East of Eden? Pick up an arduino.

>So I'm basically at an age now where it's very apparent that youth doesn't last forever and I don't want to waste my life.

Have you watched Fight Club?

If you are reading this then this warning is for you. Every word you read of this useless fine print is another second off your life. Don't you have other things to do? Is your life so empty that you honestly can't think of a better way to spend these moments? Or are you so impressed with authority that you give respect and credence to all that claim it? Do you read everything you're supposed to read? Do you think every thing you're supposed to think? Buy what you're told to want? Get out of your apartment. Meet a member of the opposite sex. Stop the excessive shopping and masturbation. Quit your job. Start a fight. Prove you're alive. If you don't claim your humanity you will become a statistic. You have been warned. - Tyler Durden

You mentioned drones...do you have a drone? Those can be really fun and can really be had for whatever price you want. I had this exact mini drone for a while:

https://www.amazon.com/Cheerson-CX-10-Mini-Quadcopter-Drone/dp/B00KXZC762/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1500911159&sr=8-2-spons&keywords=cx-10+drone&psc=1

It's ridiculously tiny, (like only a few inches), but that thing is so fun (and challenging) to fly! My full size drone is actually way way easier to fly than that one. Just something to consider!

Congratulations!

If you're looking to learn scales and how to start building your own solos, or speed up your sight reading, try "Guitar Solos in 3 Lessons."

Everything you need is laid out in this easy to follow, step by step guide- all of the core basics in one place, professionally written and researched, based on years of real world experience.

And it's just 99p!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Guitar-Solos-Lessons-Complete-Beginners-ebook/dp/B07ZN8TX6L/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=guitar+solos+in+3+lessons&qid=1572297130&sr=8-1

I am more of a book person.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Iron Kingdom. Even though it focuses more on economics, The Age of Revolution is also a good read. And the aforementioned article on Metternich which gives you a nice story-telling device to the later coalition wars until the liberal revolution 1848

The Tao of Pooh it is awesome.

[Amazon] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Tao-Pooh-Benjamin-Hoff/dp/0140067477)


[wiki summary] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tao_of_Pooh)


[reviews] (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48757.The_Tao_of_Pooh)

Well ultimately the best advice I can give you is it isn't about the language you learn but the concepts you pick up the span across all languages. While you are learning C you are also learning the fundamentals of computer science. For C well C is a low language so it makes you handle memory management and makes you jump right into pointers. I have another source if you want it, the book "The C Programming Language" is what we use for my class, the book is cheap and was written by the guy who wrote C.

If your work is free of grammar and spelling errors you're probably ahead of most of your classmates right there.

You might read some books about writing like The Elements of Style. The only writing I've done professionally was for TV news. I read exactly one book on the subject, Writing Broadcast News by Mervin Block (he wrote for Cronkite). It's basically the Bible of broadcast writing and it was very instructive.

Celebrate and Promote:

3 years ago, I wanted to give up my life and end it all.

Today, I bought my poetry book which I published on Amazon.

Keep living, it helps.

Links for Kindle eBook and Paperback

https://htdp.org/2018-01-06/Book/
https://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/
https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/introduction-algorithms
https://www.amazon.es/Clean-Code-Handbook-Software-Craftsmanship/dp/0132350882
https://www.amazon.es/Object-Oriented-Design-Heuristics-paperback-ArthurRiel/dp/0321774965
https://www.amazon.es/Design-patterns-object-oriented-professional-computing/dp/0201633612

In one year you will be properly equipped to look for a professional position :)

It's definitely a known effect that lack of sunlight can cause darker moods. Have you looked into getting a Seasonal Affective Disorder Lamp? Lots of people find them to be useful.

I'm taking a shot in the dark with this one, but what about Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance?

You could also check out this brew starter kit.

What else stands out about him? How does we decorate, style or design preferences, etc.?

Read my book. Actually no, don't...

Currently reading:

My Rise And Fall by Benito Mussolini

I Am the Messenger


Thinking of buying:

Mussolini's Intellectuals: Fascist Social and Political Thought

Courting Greta - Not sure about this one.

That does! Thank you:) I think it is too! I know most people realy only focus on the Nazi part of it all, but there’s so much to German history! (Like the Barbaric Tribes).


World Wars are super interesting! Have tou ever read All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque? There’s “sequel” to that book called The Road Back. It looks at what happens to a (German) soldier after World War I ended. That’s supposed to be an accurate representation of soldier’s sentiments at the time. Storm of Steel by Ernst Junger is a (German) soldier’s experience during WWI. Holocaust by Bullets, Ordinary Men, Sleepwalkers, Europe’s Last Summer, and A Woman In Berlin are some pretty incredible books about these wars. Don’t know of you’ve heard of them or have read them, but thought I’d made the suggestion! Movie wise I’d say Generation War if you haven’t see it yet:) The Darkest Hour movie was great if you haven’t seen that! I’m planning to watch Babylon Berlin soon. Don’t know if you were looking for suggestions but I thought I’d make some!

I have this mood light that I've used for the past few years. I can't say it cures the SAD completely, but I think it's made it less severe.

Small groups of people have always been the ones to bring about the strongest changes! I loved your response, I see a lot of myself in you. I'm involved in similar things in Uni which is a bit of an uphill battle because the sports teams will always have massive turnouts and then we get like 8/9 people on a good day in a campus of nearly 20000 :P

I love that you enjoy thinking about societal needs, I often wish I'd studied sociology (I'm doing IT, what do you do?) but [a got a fantastic begineers level book!] (https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Sociology-Book-Big-Ideas/0241182298) on it that covers a lot of different topics and gives names to phenomena that I've been thinking about and trying to articulate to people! Gentrification, institutionalised racism, poverty in native communites in wealthy nations etc. The causes of those need to be understood to be battled.

You mention trafficking also - a topic which is getting a bit of attention in Europe due to the massive amounts of refugees that it's feared are being forced into slavery by gateway countries. It's a horrible issue, may I also ask what it is you do with Amnesty? I wanted to get involved with them this year but those a political movement instead, local vs. international I guess. Next year I could well join though!