The General Thread

[spaps]

>mfw i pre-order poker night 2 on steam and get poker night 1 free a day before poker night 2 comes out

 

[pickleniggo]

I burned a piece of toast and now my whole living area smells like it. Ew.

 

[snowkitten91]

I think my neighbors got themselves a baby chick. It hasn't stopped crying the whole day.

 

[champthom]

I'm thinking of taking some college courses for fun, like sociology, to get back in the academic state of mind and then maybe back to school part time. I do have a 4 year degree from a pretty prestigious school, but my grades suck mostly because I spent more time dicking around on the Internet than studying. I'm just trying to figure out the best course of action though, like if I should actually try to get another degree in something like Mathematics or if I could just use them as leverage towards a graduate program. I'd have to pay out of pocket because, well, don't get me started on student loans so I was thinking of going through the local community college.

Also it turns out that there are schools around me that offer courses in Ancient Greek and Latin, two languages I've been meaning to learn. They're at the private school, which would be a bit out of pocket but I figure I'd have more of an investment if I take a course over trying to study on my own and I'd be getting feedback.

 

[Grand Number of Pounds]

If you're interested in Latin there's a free course called Latinum and the London Latin Course on YouTube by Evan der Millner. I've tried his London course and I like it, although he's a Latin revivalist and places emphasis on speaking the language instead of just reading it. He started one on AG a few weeks ago, but his lessons don't seem to be that well-received.

There are free AG lessons on Reddit under introancientgreek.

I know you want to take a course instead of self-study, but still, knowing a bit of the language before you take a course never hurts. I've been trying to learn Spanish on my own for 4 years now and have figured I need to take classes or get a tutor because I can't do it solely on my own. I'm taking Intermediate Spanish I in school now and want to take part 2 in the summer.

I've dabbled in Latin and enjoyed it, it's such a rich and interesting language and was spoken by one of the most influential empires in European history. You'll never lack for interesting reading material if you know Latin.

 

[KatsuKitty]

Really, these days, school is for the qualifications you get. If you want to learn, save yourself the money, and do something like MIT OpenCourseWare, iTunes U, or just use the Internet and your spare time in general. I've taught myself so much more about computers in four years of productively using my spare time than I did in all four years of college.

 

[champthom]

If you're interested in Latin there's a free course called Latinum and the London Latin Course on YouTube by Evan der Millner. I've tried his London course and I like it, although he's a Latin revivalist and places emphasis on speaking the language instead of just reading it. He started one on AG a few weeks ago, but his lessons don't seem to be that well-received.

Ah, this is actually right up my alley, I tried going with Wheelock's Latin and this other book by this fellow who writes the Latin column in The [London] Times, but I sorta got distracted. This might be good to fill in the gaps.

Really, these days, school is for the qualifications you get. If you want to learn, save yourself the money, and do something like MIT OpenCourseWare, iTunes U, or just use the Internet and your spare time in general. I've taught myself so much more about computers in four years of productively using my spare time than I did in all four years of college.

OCW is pretty sweet, I agree, I just figure that taking an actual course might force me to actually to like, actually study it and stuff. Like I said, part of it is because I'd like to get into a graduate program and unfortunately, I can't translate taking an OCW into leverage for a degree program.

But you know what I wish I could have done in school? Apparently there's these tests you can take, I forget what they're called but pretty much it allows you to independently study a subject, then you take a test to prove your understanding and you can (usually) get college credit for it. OCW wasn't as big as it is now when I was in school, but if it was, I would have done that and saved some cash or at least taken courses I actually enjoyed.

 

[Grand Number of Pounds]

this other book by this fellow who writes the Latin column in The [London] Times

Learn Latin by Peter V Jones. I got to lesson 17 of 20 before I stopped last year. I also have his book for AG.

Apparently there's these tests you can take, I forget what they're called but pretty much it allows you to independently study a subject, then you take a test to prove your understanding and you can (usually) get college credit for it.

CLEP tests

They're for the first two years of a lot of academic programs, mainly liberal arts from what I remember.

 

[Fialovy]

It was such a beautiful day outside, I decided to do some gardening. I planted some gladiola bulbs.

 

[The Hunter]

On the highway headed to Hebbronville right now. It's my dad's insane uncle's 70th birthday.

 

[Surtur]

Watching Life of Pi. So...many...feels...

 

[Tim Buckley]

Watching Life of Pi. So...many...feels...

I recommend you to read the novel is far better.
If only the author was more insightful and didn't hate on the agnostics for dumb reasons...

 

[LM 697]

"These days, I look in the mirror and I have to admit, I'm not the strapping young Muslim socialist I used to be." - President Obama

 

[The Hunter]

Oh man, the ride home was wild. There was a thunderstorm warning that we didn't listen to because last time there was one, it didn't really rain at all. Well, we left at 9, and the sky was constantly illuminated by lightning, and the roads were flooding. Worst part: my mom decided to drive home and she's an awful driver when she's with my dad. She was swerving all over the place even when the road was dry before the storm. But man, that lightning. Let me tell you something, if you've never seen a severe thunderstorm on the desolate fields of mesquite in Texas, or on the wild terrain of Africa, you have not seen true beauty. It's the closest you'll ever be to feeling like you're on a foreign planet. Fuck, nature is beautiful.

I also met more family members I've never met before; they were my dad's cousins and second cousins. These Stacey folks, while generous and outgoing, are also really wild. A lot of them have been to prison, and the elders (with the exception of like, 3 people) look like they think it's still 1974 (including my dad). The saddest and most inspiring story I heard came from one of the white girls (the entire town of Hebbronville was practically related at some point, so nobody married women in town). She seemed like one of those "country girl" types, so I tried to ignore her, but she's so interesting. She was introduced to meth, heroin, and cocaine at age 10 by her piece of shit brother who would give her the drugs so she'd get hooked and buy from his friends. Her teeth got all fucked up from the grinding, and she was pretty much a burnout by age 15. She left town and went to San Antonio and wound up homeless. She had a child and gave him up to her parents in hopes that he'd have a better life. One day, she was arrested and imprisoned for five years on possession charges. That's when she realized she had to turn her life around. She began to work with the prison, and went back to school to become a certified counselor. She went from being a directionless drug addict to a model, sober citizen. So yeah, don't judge people because sometimes they're more amazing than you think they are.

 

[Grand Number of Pounds]

I remember when I was a kid my brother, my cousin who was like 10 years older than me and I were in a car with my dad during a thunderstorm. My brother and I were kids at this time and were scared of the storm. My cousin was at least a high school graduate at this time and told us to chill out. He and a buddy of his would go to a house by Lake Erie when there were storms and watch the lightning strike the lake. Many years later I can understand the appeal of this.

And yeah, people can be awesome and surprising. That's why you should get to know different people and try to learn a bit from them. Unless they're a complete loser like Chris or Nick Bate you'll probably have a pleasant encounter.

 

[spaps]

Look what I made in under five minutes.

The texture isn't actually that shitty. I have my texture detail set to low.
RED texture:

Spoiler

BLU texture:

Spoiler

You can download it here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?ox4bxpe7iah2le0

 

[Hyperion]

Confirming this picture is historical fact and should be in History books.

 

[The Hunter]

Before today, I thought Artemis would be a really cool name for a girl. Then I realized if I named my daughter that, all the kids would call her fartemis. Time to think of other girl names in case I ever have a daughter in the future.

 

[Saney]

Brother: Hey, your girlfriend's from Guatemala, right?

Me:...Her family's from there, wh-?

Brother: So, she had to jump two borders to get into America?

Me: Get fucked.

 

[The Hunter]

Took my sandwich all the way to my car to eat it.

God, I'm weird.

Oh, it's raining now. Kind of hard. It's certainly not drizzling.