Most have no clue what's really going on in the world... the elites are afraid of political awakening.

This (mass surveillance) by the NSA and abuse by law enforcement is just more part and parcel of state suppression of dissent against corporate interests. They're worried that the more people are going to wake up and corporate centers like the US and canada may be among those who also awaken. See this vid with Zbigniew Brzezinski, former United States National Security Advisor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ttv6n7PFniY

Science on reasoning, reason doesn't work the way we thought it did:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYmi0DLzBdQ

Brezinski at a press conference

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kmUS--QCYY

The real news:

http://therealnews.com/t2/

http://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Incorporated-Managed-Inverted-Totalitarianism/dp/069114589X/

http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Government-Surveillance-Security-Single-Superpower/dp/1608463656/r

http://www.amazon.com/National-Security-Government-Michael-Glennon/dp/0190206446/

Look at the following graphs:

IMGUR link - http://imgur.com/a/FShfb

http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/images/wealth/Actual_estimated_ideal_wealth_distribution.gif
http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/images/wealth/Net_worth_and_financial_wealth.gif
http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html

And then...

WIKILEAKS: U.S. Fought To Lower Minimum Wage In Haiti So Hanes And Levis Would Stay Cheap

http://www.businessinsider.com/wikileaks-haiti-minimum-wage-the-nation-2011-6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnkNKipiiiM

Free markets?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHj2GaPuEhY#t=349

http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Illusion-Literacy-Triumph-Spectacle/dp/1568586132/

"We now live in two Americas. One—now the minority—functions in a print-based, literate world that can cope with complexity and can separate illusion from truth. The other—the majority—is retreating from a reality-based world into one of false certainty and magic. To this majority—which crosses social class lines, though the poor are overwhelmingly affected—presidential debate and political rhetoric is pitched at a sixth-grade reading level. In this “other America,” serious film and theater, as well as newspapers and books, are being pushed to the margins of society.

In the tradition of Christopher Lasch’s The Culture of Narcissism and Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death, Pulitzer Prize-winner Chris Hedges navigates this culture—attending WWF contests, the Adult Video News Awards in Las Vegas, and Ivy League graduation ceremonies—to expose an age of terrifying decline and heightened self-delusion."

Important history:

http://williamblum.org/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcA1v2n7WW4

The best route is to take up a course on Logic.

Study introductory predicate logic. Break statements into predicates - identify their antecedent and consequent. Identify the differences between a predicate's negation, inverse, converse, and contrapositive; more importantly, how they can be used to derive logical Truth. Familiarize yourself with Gödel's completeness theorem.

Next, learn to identify a fallacy; study up on logical fallacies.

Cognitive Biases are the next most important step. Being aware of your own cognitive biases will help you identify when your analyses are being skewed.

Study everything about everything. More information about your domain of concern will granter you further insight for analysis.

Lastly, take care of yourself. Get lots of sleep, eat healthy, and exercise; your judgement will be impaired if you don't.


Some books to help:

• Aristotle's Organon: Amalgamation of Aristotle's work on logic and reason. The starting point for most Logisticians.
  
• Critique of Pure Reason: Kant's works on logic and reason are pretty much mandatory - but require careful study.
  
• Critique of Practical Reason: Another of Kant's works. Read this after the critique of pure reason.
  
• Science of Logic: Hegel's work is an extension of Kant and Aristotle - also mandatory.
  
• An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding: Hume's works are a much easier read, but aren't as explicitly stated.
  
• Informal Logic a Pragmatic Approach: The best introductory logic book I've read.
  
• LANGUAGE, COGNITION, AND HUMAN NATURE: Steve Pinker has an unique perspective as a psychologist, linguist, and cog. scientist. This book highlights some of his more interesting insights.
  
• Thought and Language: Offers interesting insights into some innate biases in language and culture.
  
• A Rulebook For Arguments: This provides nice introductory reference material for fallacies and argumentation.
  
• Thank you for Arguing: Exploits fallacies and cognitive biases to pursuade an audience in an argument. Witty and easy to read.
  
  Edit: Added book suggestions.

The two main groups of penmanship styles are Palmer and Spencierian. You can buy workbooks for both off of Amazon. Personally Spencierian is easier for me, but realize both are technically "cursive." Which I rarely use.

The book that I instead learned from was Lettering for Architects & Desginers. I realized that I always wanted my print writing to look like my mother's. She learned how to write in a drafting class. I did some research and that was the book that I found.

The 3 tips that I took to heart from my time learning Spencierian script were:

1. Slow down.: Seriously. If you do nothing else just slowing down will help a lot.
   
2. Think through every stroke. You need to make sure you have enough room to complete every letter and that all of your letters are roughly the same scale.
   
3. Practice everyday. Instead of writing "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" over and over again I copied famous passages and poems. Edgar Allen Poe, Shakespeare, the lyrics to Aerosmith songs. Pick something that interests you and use that.
   
   Hope this helps.

https://www.amazon.com/Spencerian-Copybooks-without-Theory-Penmanship/dp/0880620951

Sull's system is also good. I'd start with the old Spencerian books, and if you're enjoying cursive writing and practice, then consider getting this one.

I'm about half-way through with Sull's and can definitely tell I've entered a new realm of less than horrible handwriting. Usually my writing has a half-life of 30 minutes, but I've now actually had people able to read my handwriting without needing a translator.

George Lakoff will help you understand conservatives (and swing voters) better than any pundit ever could.
He also does a great job of explaining the moral nature of politics, and how liberals can formulate better moral arguments to persuade what he calls "bi-conceptual" voters.

Edit: The poll referenced in this very post is one of many examples I've seen in recent years of actual data backing up Lakoff's theories. When combined with recent studies showing the differences between the parts of the brain liberals and conservatives use to process political/moral issues, Lakoff's concepts are dead-on.

Generally in order to enjoy stories they have to be written in a language that you understand. Judging by your spelling and grammar, I will assume you don't read or write English. As these stories are written in English, they may be difficult for you to enjoy. Hopefully this will help you enjoy Marvel.

thank you all for your kind words, im truly flattered. Very motivated to keep on practicing <:


Btw I dont really have a fixed script for both capitals or lower case letters yet, im just copying whatever i find decent looking.


A while ago i found this image just browsing thru google:
https://i.gyazo.com/6e9fe4a6b9211273d79c900e1b8868c4.png
(source unknown to me) and thought they look pretty nice.

Also I just finished the Spencerian penmanship copybooks:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/088062096X/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
They are great, some of the capitals letters are from there.
http://i.imgur.com/BLhSBni.jpg?1

Hope this is helpful<:

Amazon UK
Amazon CA
Amazon CN
Amazon IT
Amazon DE
Amazon FR
Amazon ES
Amazon JP

Just in case OP isn't American (South American countries seem to be able to order on amazon.es).

It's quite ridiculous, by the way, that there is no amazon Australia but an amazon Austria that just redirects to the German amazon :/

Try this little experiment: Browse around reddit for a bit. Note how you seem to be talking to yourself - commenting on things, remembering to add milk to your grocery list, etc. If you actually sat down and transcribed every little thought you were having, using complete sentences, I bet a couple of days later you still wouldn't be done. Personally, when I think something like, "Oh, I should run down the the 7-11 later to get some milk," the words "oh" and "run" might pop up in my head, but I simply visualize a 7-11 and maybe some milk, and I just "know" within about a second that the concept of "out of milk" and "needing" and "buying" (and maybe "buying extra things like ramen") and "coming back home" are all implied. I don't need to actively think about those concepts separately, since my brain has already thought them. This is very much like how babies think.

There are some theories going around about the concept of mentalese (which is separate from the concept of language) and universal grammar that discuss this concept that all human beings have a universal way of thinking about things, which get "translated" into language when we think or speak.

You may be interested in reading The Unfolding of Language by Guy Deutscher. It goes into how language may have started out, and how it evolved into the complex communication system we have today. (It's written for people who don't know anything about linguistics, so you won't get bogged down with technical terms.)

Forget about the practice tests. Try reading these 3 books and they're different from those traditional Kaplan/Princeton books cuz this is more effective and to the point. Look at the reviews if you don't believe me.

Reading - The Critical Reader, 3rd Edition: The Complete Guide to SAT Reading https://www.amazon.com/dp/0997517875/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_CocTCbC509HKK

Writing- The College Panda's SAT Writing: Advanced Guide and Workbook https://www.amazon.com/dp/098949649X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_jncTCb8VQQDG7

Math - The College Panda's SAT Math: Advanced Guide and Workbook for the New SAT https://www.amazon.com/dp/0989496422/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_-ncTCb0K4SM2Y

There's also a dude on this website called 1600.io and he spends a ton of time going over every question on those practice tests you took so he'll tell you the right way to do it. It's free for practice tests 1-4

• "On Writing," by Stephen King (http://amzn.com/B000FC0SIM) - The first half is a good biography, and the second half is great insight into how Stephen King comes up with his stories. Not just the genesis of the story, but that actual "I sit down and do this, with this, in this type of environment." And then what to do when you finish your first draft. He is very critical of plotting, though. If you disagree with him about that, it's still good for everything else.
  
  
• "The Elements of Style" by Strunk and White (http://amzn.com/020530902X) - This is a handy little book for proper grammatical and prose rules. How to write proper dialogue, where to put punctuation, and how to structure sentences to flow in an aesthetically pleasing manner.
  
  
• "Stein On Writing" by Sol Stein (http://amzn.com/B00HFUJP5Y) - I just picked this book up, so I haven't finished it--but it seems to be a little more in depth than Stephen King's On Writing. For instance, it looks more at not just what makes a good story, but what makes a good story appealing to readers. So whereas Stephen King preaches a more organic growth and editing process to write a story, this one seems to be more focused on how to take your idea and make it a good story based on proven structure.
  
  Honorable mention:
  
  
• "The Emotion Thesaurus" by Angela Ackerman (http://amzn.com/B00822WM2M) - This is incredibly useful when you're "showing" character emotions instead of "telling" the reader what those emotions are. For example, "He was curious," is telling the reader the character is curious. "He leaned forward, sliding his chair closer," is showing the reader that he is curious.
  
  
• I think it's easy for writers (myself included) to get too wrapped up in studying writing, or reading about writing. The best way to improve your is to write more, whether it's fiction or non-fiction, articles or short stories, novels or book reviews. The same principle applies to most skills, art especially. While reading about the activity certainly helps and is probably necessary at some point, you're going to just have to perform the activity in order to improve. Imagine reading about running more than actually running to practice for a marathon. Or reading about flying instead of getting hours in. Or reading about piano theory instead of actually playing piano. But if you're coming from nothing, it would probably help to read those three books before starting in order to start practicing with a good background right away, instead of starting with nothing and winging it on your own.

[An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments] (http://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Book-Bad-Arguments/dp/1615192255/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462815567&sr=8-1&keywords=illustrated+fallacies)

This is a neat list, but I agree with some of the other commenters--I think it's easy to mis-use this sort of list as an excuse to slip into lazy writing.

Personally, I suggest Angela Ackerman's book "The Emotion Thesaurus." I like her book because it focuses on the psychological aspects of human emotions, and the physiological effects they can possibly have. She doesn't just list a bunch of physical actions, but rather takes the time to delve into what sort of character would use a certain set of actions, and when might be appropriate to include them. It's only a couple bucks on Amazon, if you want to check it out: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00822WM2M/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1#navbar

Hmm .. try Shapiro's Thinking about Mathematics. It's very good and accessible, and Shapiro is quite eminent.

If you like learning about how languages develop and change, this book will probably have a big effect on the way you see language shifts. It's an entry-level summary of the basic language evolution principles that allow, for example, modern linguists to reverse engineer ancient languages with scant records.

The book jumped to mind because, if you understood some of these concepts, you'd never argue that people will descend to pointing and grunting. Using intense words to describe relatively mundane phenomena (e.g. "awesome") is something people often bemoan, but as those words become banal people continually seek new ways to make their communication - their very voices - stand out from the crowd in its intensity. That's a bit of a treadmill, but it's not necessarily one that actively lacks virtue.

Using "lazy" language like contractions, malapropisms, nonstandard spellings, metatheses, and so on isn't necessarily "destructive" to a language in a holistic sense, either. If certain terms or formations lose their specificity in a miasma of misuse, the need for that specificity doesn't necessarily go away. As long as people have need to communicate with specificity, they will reach for ways to do so when the moment requires it. Language is the tool we all use to convey meaning, and we're tool-makers at the very core of our collective being.

There are some "errors" I actively object to because they interfere with my speedy comprehension of written material in a jarring way. Some of that, I'm sure, is my own conditioned outrage. (For example, a sentence like "it's suppose to be this way," is jarring to me, but it's tough to make a sound semantic argument why "supposed to" and "intended to" should have identical meaning that precludes the use of "suppose to" without feeling like you're throwing good linguistics after bad.) Some of it I feel has genuine utility in easing comprehension, e.g. they're/there/their, its/it's.

Some corrections, such as less/fewer and further/farther, I feel are pedantic. As you might gather from my username, I have a certain appreciation for the pedantic, and I'm aware that I'm not alone in that capacity. I don't think that's any great sin, in and of itself! I will often correct people on matters of pedantry on the off chance that they, too, appreciate a good bit of pedantry. Overall, I try to control the image and tone of that communication carefully, though, because of something my Aunt, a professor of linguistics at University of Texas, told me a long time ago:

"One person can't hurt a language, but they can hurt feelings. Act accordingly."

This is a professor whose career's work was in recording and preserving endangered languages in the Yucatan.

So yeah - lighten up, there, son. Ain't none of these people gonna hurt English none, so long as folks've got stuff to say and use English to do it. If something trips you up, decide if it's because of a specificity/fluency barrier or just a learned "correctness fetish," and then do the needful.

I'm a PhD student in philosophy, and one of the areas I'm beginning to research is effective methods for training students to properly use evidential support in arguments (obviously this isn't my main area of research, but I have thought about it a bit).

Many universities now offer an Introduction to Critical Reasoning course. Their quality does vary depending on who teaches it (like any course), but I know the one offered at my university is fantastic. If you can't take a course, then there are plenty of books and textbooks aimed at teaching the kind of skills you are looking for. I honestly don't know which are considered the best, but these three all seem fine: 1 2 3.

I'd like to talk about some more specific things. You mentioned in another post studying predicate logic. I love symbolic logic. I wish more students took it. I will probably be teaching it for a long time. But, I think for your stated goals, studying critical reasoning will be much more efficient than studying formal logic.

Another posted suggested reading Spinoza, Kant, and Heidegger. This is terrible advice. These are three of the most difficult philosophers to read in the entire history of philosophy (Spinoza is actually quite fun to read in TPT, but nobody reads that, so I'm sure the poster was referring to The Ethics). Reading Heideger won't help your ability to use logic and reason. It just won't.

Students' biggest problem is that they often fail to understand the reading. For example, a very large chunk of students in Intro to Philosophy classes every year think that Descartes actually believed in an evil demon who was deceiving him, and was thus a skeptic. Critical reading is not an easy skill. Lots of intelligent people aren't that great at it (when an article gets posted on Reddit, look at some of the responses). The best way to improve this skill is to identify your friends who you think are especially good at critical reading, read the same thing as them, and then discuss it.

Students' second biggest problem is not understanding evidential support. For example, almost every intro to philosophy and intro to ethics course includes a day or two going over the Euthyphro. A modern slant on Socrates' main question in this dialogue goes like this: Does God command certain actions because they are morally right, or are certain actions morally right just because God commands them? The right way to respond to this argument is to draw out the implications of each position, and see whether they have any problems or not. Instead, most students will say things like "I'm a Christian so I believe in Divine Command Theory" - and then they will use the rest of the essay to misquote Bible verses at you. The best way to improve your use of evidential support is to study critical reasoning texts - they all have large sections on it - and to practice using it in discussions with people who will challenge you.

Outside of students, many experts (and dare I say) even scientists still make mistakes with reasoning. The most common mistake that I see is when people ignore or don't give proper attention to alternative interpretations of data.

For example, consider this really neat little article. The author (a researcher in cognitive science) describes some really cool experiments where people screw up even simple rule-following tasks (e.g. they recognize and correctly identify 400 as an even number immediately, but take longer to recognize 798 as an even number, and in some cases actually respond that it is odd). The author of the article then makes the claim that "The human mind is ill-suited to carry out rules." However, the data discussed doesn't support this claim - people aren't getting the even / odd tests wrong a majority of the time. The weaker (and less interesting claim) is that the human mind is not perfect at carrying out rules. Or, even better, that the human mind is mostly fine at carrying out rules, but frequently when we should use rule-based thinking, we use heuristics instead).

So yeah. My advice. Don't read Heidegger to try to improve your critical thinking abilities. Read some critical reasoning textbooks. Some of them are fantastic. Talk with your friends who you think are really good at using logic and reason. A lot. Argue with them. Using reasoning is a skill, and you have to practice it to get good at it.

I know this isn't what you want to hear, but you can't learn a language without learning its grammar. Your request is like someone who wants to be a surgeon saying he doesn't want to bother with studying anatomy. It just doesn't work like that.

Sure, with Duolingo or Youtube or a smart phone app, you could probably pick up some vocabulary and maybe even a few stand-alone phrases. Without understanding the grammar, though, you'll never be able to put those words together into meaningful sentences and arrange those sentences into meaningful conversations.

It would be like listening to someone in English who always says things like "Me want store please to go." Sure, a native English speaker will probably understand that you really meant "I want to go to the store, please." However, after two minutes of a conversation like that, the native speaker will be mentally exhausted.

So, as someone who himself didn't start learning German until he was 18, please believe me when I tell you that you will be doing yourself a huge favor in the long run if you take it slow here at the beginning and don't try to jump ahead until you get a firm grasp on the grammar. This won't necessarily be easy, and it won't necessarily be thrilling, but it *is* necessary. Having a large vocabulary and knowing cool slang words don't mean anything if you can't put them together correctly to make sentences.

Finally, you mentioned that you don't know English grammar very well. This is part of the problem, too. How can you learn the grammar of a foreign language if you don't have a frame of reference via the grammar of your own language? A grammar guide that was used in the German department where I studied might be helpful. It's relatively inexpensive on its own, but you might even be able to find it for free at a local public or university library, if you have access to one.

Finally, don't hesitate to ask grammar questions here (but help us help you by not asking 20 different grammar questions in the same post).

Viel Spaß und viel Erfolg!

There's a pretty good reader on the subject called Thinking about Mathematics that I used for a reading course in undergrad. I don't know much about the technical literature beyond that level, though, as my formal philosophy career went on hiatus when I entered my Ph.D. program. Since then, I've been more or less an armchair philosopher.

Spencerian, though they've made some variations to make it their own.

[My wife got me some books for Christmas last year] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/088062096X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1526597551&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=spencerian+penmanship+theory+book+plus+five+copybooks&dpPl=1&dpID=51Q0SSR5udL&ref=plSrch), and I like them a lot. The sentences from the workbooks feel like 19th century propaganda, and are a lot of fun to write.

I have a lot of random things I've bookmarked. In addition to the others listed here:
Synonyms for the word very
FoxType editor, similar to Hemingway
Directly access FoxType thesaurus
Interesting application that generates a kind of word-cloud of the most commonly used adjectives in relationship to a noun
Reverse dictionary
Emotional synonyms

There are also some thesauruses that I bought from Amazon for specific things that I really find useful. Two that I use most often are:

Urban Settings
Emotional Thesaurus

Get this

Nah, Russell was somewhat biased and did interpret a lot of philosophers just wrong. Also, he smears his positivist opinion all over the place. Anthony Kenny's [A New History of Western Philosophy] (https://www.amazon.com/New-History-Western-Philosophy/dp/0199656495/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1500643240&sr=8-1&keywords=a+new+history+of+western+philosophy) fits you way better.

1 this is reddit, not a submission of our dissertations

2 troll somewhere else

3 lol Ayn Rand ok

4 http://www.amazon.com/English-Grammar-Dummies-Geraldine-Woods/dp/0764553224

I loved this set to learn with, thought you'd appreciate
Spencerian Penmanship (Theory Book plus five copybooks) https://www.amazon.com/dp/088062096X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_k4dLAbNN3JY0M

Why not a lovely Spencerian letter? It doesn't have to be the ornate kind written with a dip pen, that'll take too long to learn. But you can simply buy a cheap fountain pen, fill it with a nice colored ink, and practice writing in a nice monoline script (ignore all the shadings). You can also consider business handwriting and spruce it up with a bit of fancy capitals. Lessons are free at the iampeth website although if you are serious you can buy these copybooks, fill up all the pages and voila.. instant pants dropping love letter.

> I'm hoping a more left leaning red liberal like Trudeau would say something about this in his platform. Was it under Paul Martin's watch when this program was expanded?

You need to figure out what has been really going on...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnkNKipiiiM

Free markets?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHj2GaPuEhY#t=349

http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Illusion-Literacy-Triumph-Spectacle/dp/1568586132/

I got asked to teach Sunday school in early December when the lady running it was on vacation...... I couldn't help myself and did a lesson on logic. Used this book http://www.amazon.com/An-Illustrated-Book-Bad-Arguments/dp/1615192255. Had 8 13 year olds going home talking about logical fallacies.... I was removed from the class before the next service.... Grin.

It was [The Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments] (https://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Book-Bad-Arguments/dp/1615192255/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1520019165&sr=8-2&keywords=illustrated+logical+fallacies). It doesn't cover every fallacy out there, but it's a great beginning. Good for teenagers and college kids, too.

I started with this illustrated book of bad arguments from Amazon. http://amzn.com/1615192255

I just let them read it and give them real life examples on the way to school. My wife rolled her eyes hard and laughed the first time our son told me my goofy comment was a poorly formed argument and illogical. Kids are smart as hell, they just need to be cut loose. I also used a book called raising freethinkers for ideas.

Psst.

yo m8 i found a book you might wanna read

>increase my likelihood of getting hired abroad

Getting hired doing what? Where abroad?

Why do you want a minor in French? There are at least a few million other Haitians who are bilingual in French, so how are you bringing extra value to the marketplace with that minor? Wouldn't a Spanish/German/Russian/Chinese/etc. - Haitian bilingual be a rarer commodity?

This all really depends on where you want to go and what you want to do.

As for books:
My intro to ling. class used the book Language Files.
The Language Instinct is pretty good.
I really liked The Unfolding of Language.
The Power of Babel doesn't get too technical, but is an introduction to language change.

Well this one's kind of an interesting possible case of language change. See, lol started, of course, meaning "laugh out loud". Eventually, though, it's taken on its own status as a general term to indicate something is funny. It no longer necessarily means the person is actually "laughing out loud". One piece of evidence for this includes that it has its own pronunciations (/lɑl/ as in "lawl" or /lol/ as in "lohl" or approximately "Lowell", where the vowel rhymes with "pole") apart from pronouncing the initialism (that is, "ell oh ell"). Another piece of evidence is that it has its own derivations relating to this more general concept, as in doing it for the lulz. Applying the original literal meaning to this idiom would suggest this be read as *doing it for the laugh out louds or *doing it for the laughs out loud or something else that is just essentially nonsensible.

So, how does this apply to lol out loud? Consider the relatively famous case of the evolution of the word "today" from Latin to French. The Latin word for "today" is hodie (similar to hoy in Spanish). hodie is reduced from hoc ("this") + die ("day"). Derived from this, in Old French people thus said hui for "today", which more or less meant "this day". Eventually, though, this wasn't enough, and people eventually came to say au jour de hui, which literally means "on the day of this day". This was reduced to aujourd'hui. Finally, in modern times, some people now apparently colloquially say a jour d'ajourd'hui, or "on the day of on the day of this day". (source, see also Deutscher's Unfolding of Language for more details). So, hopefully you can see a connection: even though lol may in some cases literally mean "laughing out loud", it is not out of the realm of language change for people to eventually start saying lolling out loud unironically, as the original form gets reduced and/or loses its original literal connotation.

Replacing words counts as an argument now alibix?

You might want to buy this book mate.

• This book is fantastic.
  
• The first two sections of this site give good philosophy-specific advice.
  
  The best advice though is to find a senior philosophy student or a generous professor or TA who is willing to give you direct feedback.

This. Actually you might find the pdf for free since it's quite old, this is from IAMPETH.

Top score is a 1600, lowest score is a 400. Theres 3 sections (Math, Reading, & Writing/Language) and an optional essay (max score is a 24). The average score is a 1060, most colleges are okay with just about anything between an 1100-1300, though more selective colleges will have an average of 1350, and top colleges usually have an average of 1520 or so.

Practice is always the best way to prepare: The Official SAT Study Guide is the most realistic practice you're going to get. It includes 8 full-length tests (though you can get those for free on the CollegeBoard website) and review of all the topics on the test.

I'm going to be taking the June SAT tomorrow and I've been using Erica L Meltzer's Grammar and Reading Guides (which are worshiped on this subreddit, for good reason), as well as the QAS Released Tests on this subreddit (scroll down and you'll see "Prep Materials" on the right-hand side. They're real tests!)

One thing that helps is identifying my mistakes and reviewing them, making sure they don't happen again the next time I practice. Typically a (responsible) person will begin preparing for the SAT about 3 months in advance, and they'll take the test about 3 times.

I hope this helps!

​

Erica Meltzer: https://www.amazon.com/Critical-Reader-3rd-Complete-Reading/dp/0997517875/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=3QJ7NNDCFZME1YAVRHE4

​

https://www.amazon.com/4th-Ultimate-Guide-SAT-Grammar/dp/0997517867/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2/143-3214858-8357969?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0997517867&pd_rd_r=a2f63509-83e3-11e9-b0f3-5fc5494b71c2&pd_rd_w=5Oxt6&pd_rd_wg=XSG76&pf_rd_p=a2006322-0bc0-4db9-a08e-d168c18ce6f0&pf_rd_r=961V20KBVK1215JA12QN&psc=1&refRID=961V20KBVK1215JA12QN

Well first you have to look at what the subscores are; if you're doing 26/40 on Reading/Writing, then my advice will obviously be to focus on Reading. For argument's sake, let's say you're at 33/33. This suggests you probably know both Reading and Writing pretty intuitively and just need some gaps filled up and additional practice.

For Reading, Erica Meltzer is recommended, but I would suggest sticking to practice tests and doing deep analyses of your mistakes and all the answer choices (know WHY every wrong answer is incorrect). Reading is a lot less concept-heavy than Writing or Math, so you'll benefit more from exposure to the way the CollegeBoard asks questions. Train yourself from the beginning to look for an answer 100% supported by the text; you MUST NOT introduce outside assumptions EVEN when a question is asking about an "inference" or "suggestion." If you're afraid of running out of the tests, maybe use PSATs in the beginning.

For Writing, you've got Erica Meltzer if you want a very thorough writing style or College Panda if you like things more to-the-point. Meltzer also has a separate workbook of practice tests for after you're done drilling concepts. Give yourself an official section every few concepts to see how much of it you are retaining when forced to deal with the concepts all together without the benefit of being told what to look for. Know your grammar concepts cold but also realize that this section tests some reading too; you'll need to draw from context to determine the best place to put a sentence, identify the most relevant details, or even determine what word is most appropriate. As with Reading, analyze your errors thoroughly; take particular care in trying to tie back errors to concepts.

On the online resource front, you can use Khan Academy (free) for different types of reading passages and grammar concepts and Uworld (requires subscription) solely as a question bank. Feel free to also download the free official SAT Question of the Day App for daily questions (every other day will have an English question).

You can obtain good explanations of practice tests with 1600.io (only first 4 tests are free).

Good luck!

I think the general consensus is:



Reading | Writing | Math
-------|-------|----
Erica Meltzer Critical Reader | Erica Meltzer Grammar | College Panda Math
| |College Panda Writing | Steve Warner 28 New Lessons - Advanced
| | |College Panda 10 SAT Practice Tests

I really respect the time and effort you are putting into studying for the SAT. That is quite a number of practice tests you have completed.

To bump up that reading, I highly recommend Erica Meltzer's SAT Critical Reading (2nd Edition). It's been an outstanding book for many to bump up that score. I find her to be a very outstanding author.

If grammar/writing seems to be the issue, fortunately, Erica Meltzer offers a book covering this topic! Link to her 3rd edition grammar. To reiterate, Erica Meltzer is an outstanding author who really uncovers tips to score high for SAT.

As for math, your best option is College Panda's SAT Math Workbook. I have heard great reviews about this book and I am looking to purchase this book, too. This book should really help you for the math section.

I hope you find these options helpful. You should continue to use Khan Academy daily for general practice on the three categories.
Always remember, quality over quantity. A person that practiced with 4 tests could outperform a person that practiced with 21 tests. I appreciate your studying and wish you the best luck to improve your great score!

As with all thoughts, there will always be people who co-opt them for their own ends, regardless of the actual substance of them. Both Capitalism and Communism were/are exploited to enrich very few despite promising prosperity for all. All religions have been abused in so many ways to justify so many atrocities throughout history. Monarchism, Feudalism, Racism, Sexism, Fascism, Anti-Semitism, and so on. Even ideologies which focus entirely on freedom like Libertarianism or Anarchism can and have been used to control and manipulate.

​

Social Constructivism is an idea. It's a theory that attempts to explain aspects of human societies and behaviours. It is used by stupid people stupidly, and smart people smartly. It can be used to control or free people. It seems to be an inevitable aspect of human nature to tend towards oppressive hierarchy. It takes concious effort to fight it. That is what these people, for the most part, believe they are doing. And, if we're being honest with ourselves here, they actually are. They have the stats to prove that these negative outcomes are ongoing even in rich developed Western countries. You say that they are deliberately employing a divide-and-conquer strategy as if they are waging a war on everyone else. As if it's you and them. But it isn't. All they want is a good and just society, which I think is something you want too. I know I do.

​

The French revolutionary philosophers, along with British ones, together formed the rights-based natural-law freedom-focused philosophy that founded the United States and dominates the Anglosphere, and the rest of the Western World. It is a rich and varied body of work I'd encourage you to look into since you seem quite interested in it. Here's some good starting points: Jean-Jaques Rousseau, and this is the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Positive and Negative Freedom. The latter is excellent and has articles on everything you can think of. A really good book is a New History of Western Philosophy by Anthony Kenny. If you can only read one thing, read that. It's like 1000 pages but it breezes by; his style is so good and engaging. The reasons why these ideas came about was in the pursuit of freedom. Even Marx. He and Adam Smith were actually very much cut from the same cloth. It's all very interesting.

​

China is not as monolithic or united as you seem to think it is. It has suffered and continues to suffer from frequent unrest and dissent. We rarely hear about it over here in the West. But remember: everyone in China is basically just like you. The country is as mixed as you'd expect over 1.5bn people to be, it's just relatively cut-off from the rest of the world.

​

​

Start by reading this.

A Rulebook for Arguments is a pretty awesome starting point.

FWIW, I've never heard of Moleneux in my life and I think you're probably one of the least literate people I've ever seen.

You keep repeating yourself over and over, as if your conclusions are sound without any perceivable evidence (here's a hint: they're not). You're not responding to the actual content of the posts, rather continuing along with your own shitposts and direct attacks against your opponents rather than their statements. You're projecting your own insecurities on your opponent and arguing against them, rather than arguing using real logic.

It's time for you to grow the fuck up. You keep blaming millennials for your problems, but you're either a self-hating millennial or you're from an older generation but act like one, and I'm honestly not sure which is worse.

You keep telling people to try reading a book. I've got a reading suggestion for you. I hope you look into it.

I'm not sure if you're asking how to do the more advanced stuff that /u/kapule910 did, or if you're looking to get started. If it's the latter, be sure to check out the Spencerian Penmanship Theorybook - https://www.amazon.com/Spencerian-Penmanship-Theory-Book-copybooks/dp/088062096X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1527000026&sr=8-1&keywords=spencerian+penmanship+theory+book+plus+five+copybooks

It was written by Spencer's children/pupils and provides an excellent introduction to the style, along with practice books / exercises. A bit old school, but I think that adds to the charm. =o)

I've only taken one module in philosophy of mathematics (also the only actual philosophy class I've taken) but Shapiro has a good book we used as a go-to text. Link below bc I don't know how to format on mobile. As far as prerequisite knowledge, you shouldn't need much beyond set/model theory and some mathematical logic, and even that isn't necessary depending on how far your studies are.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thinking-About-Mathematics-Philosophy/dp/0192893068

Gives a good overview of various topics in PoM, mainly questions of either:
• Ontology - Do mathematical objects exist? If so, in what sense?
• Epistemology - How do we have mathematical knowledge? How does it apply to the real world?

Aside from the book mentioned above, just do a quick Google and see what you can find in your library catalogue! Ayer, Kant, and Quine are some prominent authors.

Hope that helps some :)

Allora vai su /r/askphilosophy e nelle faq troverai molti link interessanti, tra cui un manuale consigliato. Penso sia quello di Kenny.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskPhilosophyFAQ/comments/4ifqi3/im_interested_in_philosophy_where_should_i_start

In generale https://plato.stanford.edu è una risorsa ottima.

Poi comunque dipende da cosa ti interessa di più. Se metafisica, etica, epistemologia o un po' di tutto.

Edit: https://www.amazon.com/New-History-Western-Philosophy/dp/0199656495/?pldnSite=1

Questo è il manuale.

I don’t have any PDFs, but your local or university library might have a copy of the syntax book I used when I had that class (both at undergrad and grad level). It’s called Syntax: A Generative Introduction by Andrew Carnie. Here’s a link to the paperback on Amazon, for reference: https://www.amazon.com/Syntax-Generative-Introduction-Andrew-Carnie/dp/0470655313

And I just have to say that your professor not using a textbook is pretty dumb, especially at undergrad level. It’s important to have a reference you can look at and read to explain anything you don’t understand in class, and the prof should know that.

Try Guy Deutscher's The Unfolding of Language. Beautifully written as well as expert.

I highly suggest you read the book The Unfolding of Language

It is one of my favorite books, readable to a layman yet delving into some pretty complex stuff in terms of grammatical complexity, phonology etc. It is basically an introduction to linguistics and morphology class nicely encapsulated in one very well-written book.

And it deals specifically with your question.

The author of the book analyzes linguistic creative destruction, that is, what we perceive to be the "erosion" of grammatical structures actually helps to build new ones over time. A good example he gives is the latin verb conjugation giving way to that in the romance languages. Latin loses the structures like amavero, I will love, whereas French takes the infinitive amare --> aimer and adds the verb avoir, have. So we get the complex French conjugation system wherein the future is denoted by "aimerai", "i will love", for example.

Anyway, I highly recommend that book if you ever have a few lazy days to read through it.

Rosetta Stone sucks donkey dong. Use Tae Kim's guide, Remembering the Kanji, and Genki. For listening, Pimsleur's and Japanese Pod 101 are quite good.

Yesyes! The latest edition is here: http://www.amazon.com/Rulebook-Arguments-Anthony-Weston/dp/0872209547/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324869183&sr=1-1. Marvelous book! Im nearing the end of my philosophy b.a. but I still turn to this book when writing a paper or preparing a presentation.

https://www.amazon.com/Reading-Comprehension-Success-Minutes-Day/dp/1576854949

You might want to check out George Lakfoff's book "Don't Think of an Elephant," it has some insight into the mindset of the modern conservative. He does a good job of explaining why using facts, logic or other tenets of the enlightment are not successful with conservatives. As baffling as that is to most Americans, conservatives just don't value those things because their worldview has never really bought into the enlightenment and the sequence of ideas it spawned. If someone puts every piece of information through a very old world filter of right-wrong, good-evil, then you end up with conservatism. It helped me to understand the inherent contradiction of the conservative mindset.

My favorite conservative contradiction: only the strong succeed, you have to pull yourself up by your bootstraps...then turn around and complain about Mexicans taking their jobs. Hold on there buddy! I thought you are a rugged individual who will succeed no matter what, why are you blaming Mexicans because you fucked up your shot at a union electrician gig and are still working the stock room of a country feed store. Fuck!

For Reading: https://www.amazon.com/Critical-Reader-3rd-Complete-Reading/dp/0997517875

For Writing: https://www.amazon.com/College-Pandas-SAT-Writing-Advanced/dp/098949649X/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=college+panda+sat+writing&qid=1563901164&s=gateway&sprefix=college+panda&sr=8-3 or https://www.amazon.com/4th-Ultimate-Guide-SAT-Grammar/dp/0997517867/ref=pd_aw_fbt_14_img_2/133-6279214-8476330?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0997517867&pd_rd_r=b1b3ba1b-4d03-4aef-8534-fb724df88793&pd_rd_w=tVeGd&pd_rd_wg=AG0DL&pf_rd_p=3ecc74bd-d08f-44bd-96f3-d0c2b89f563a&pf_rd_r=S0E4J8G00TRD6F0ZY1ZK&psc=1&refRID=S0E4J8G00TRD6F0ZY1ZK

For Math: https://www.amazon.com/College-Pandas-SAT-Math-Advanced/dp/0989496422/ref=pd_aw_fbt_14_img_2/133-6279214-8476330?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0989496422&pd_rd_r=6bc275dd-8dee-497b-aa49-17576266463e&pd_rd_w=YjIig&pd_rd_wg=Pc71l&pf_rd_p=3ecc74bd-d08f-44bd-96f3-d0c2b89f563a&pf_rd_r=P3X7H8SAQZT59M5F6FNV&psc=1&refRID=P3X7H8SAQZT59M5F6FNV or https://www.amazon.com/PWN-SAT-Guide-Mike-McClenathan/dp/1523963573/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?keywords=pwn+sat+math&qid=1563901232&s=gateway&sprefix=pwn+sa&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1

For Essay (if you’re taking it): https://www.amazon.com/College-Pandas-SAT-Essay-Battle-tested/dp/0989496465/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=college+panda+essay&qid=1563901277&s=gateway&sr=8-3

For General Strategy: https://www.amazon.com/SAT-Prep-Black-Book-Strategies/dp/0692916164/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?keywords=sat+black+book&qid=1563901330&s=gateway&sprefix=sat+bla&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1

For Practice Tests: https://www.amazon.com/Official-SAT-Study-Guide-2020/dp/1457312190/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=college+board+sat+2020&qid=1563901505&s=gateway&sprefix=college+board+&sr=8-3 (NOTE: These practice tests are available online but I prefer having them on paper, which is why I bought this book.) and https://amp.reddit.com/r/Sat/comments/9544rw/all_qas_tests_and_scoring_in_pdf_form/

Good online resources include Khan Academy, UWorld, and 1600.io. Also, I recommend taking a timed practice test often to follow along with your progress and see what you need to work on. Make sure to do the practice test all at once (don’t break it up into section) and try to do it in the morning like you would in the real SAT. Then, go over your mistakes very carefully (this is VERY IMPORTANT) until you truly understand the mistake so that you won’t make it again in the future. This is the most important step. If you skip this, it’s unlikely that you see any meaningful score improvement. Also, It’s up to you which resources you buy/use based on what sections you need help with. Good luck!

I have personally only used Meltzer's english book, CP's english book, and CP's math book and can vouch that all of these are amazing, but others on this sub also recommend other books. Here is a list of many of them. I hope they serve you well :] (Edit: I apologize for how huge this post is, lol)


English

• The Ulimate Guide to SAT Grammar by Erica Meltzer
  https://www.amazon.com/4th-Ultimate-Guide-SAT-Grammar/dp/0997517867/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1519610454&sr=1-1&keywords=erica+meltzer+sat+writing
  
  
• SAT Writing: Advanced Guide and Workbook by College Panda
  https://www.amazon.com/College-Pandas-SAT-Writing-Advanced/dp/0989496430/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1519610514&sr=1-1&keywords=college+panda+writing&dpID=41iRh%252BJb19L&preST=_SX218_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch
  
  
  
  Reading
  
  
• The Critical Reader by Erica Meltzer
  https://www.amazon.com/Critical-Reader-3rd-Complete-Reading/dp/0997517875/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1519610443&sr=8-1&keywords=erica+meltzer+sat+reading&dpID=51cR4Uh0YBL&preST=_SX218_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch
  
  
  
  Math
  
  
• SAT Math Advanced Guide and Workbook by College Panda
  https://www.amazon.com/College-Pandas-SAT-Math-Advanced/dp/0989496422/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1519610506&sr=1-1&keywords=college+panda+math
  
  
• Dr. John Chung's SAT Math
  https://www.amazon.com/Dr-John-Chungs-Math-Fourth/dp/197452602X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1519610536&sr=1-1&keywords=dr+chungs+sat+math&dpID=51gqq9mu0XL&preST=_SX218_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch
  

Frege's Foundations of Arithmetic is a classic "primary text" that advocates a specific point of view (that arithmetic can be reduced to logic in some sense).

These are a couple of contemporary introductory books that provide decent surveys of some major views:

http://www.amazon.com/Philosophies-Mathematics-Alexander-George/dp/0631195440

http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-about-Mathematics-The-Philosophy/dp/0192893068/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_z/181-3737012-4965247

EDIT: If I had to choose, I would pick the Velleman/Alexander book.

No, but I have this textbook:

here!

Sure, check out one of the more recent editions of Andrew Carnie's Textbooks. Most professors I know use that for their intro to Syntax, so if you're a potential student it'll put you ahead of the game.

My Syntax class uses Andrew Carnie's "Syntax: A Generative Introduction".. Granted, we haven't made it past chapter 6 yet; but I believe this book goes a bit further than X-Bar, as that is covered in chapter 7. Here's the link for it on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Syntax-Generative-Introduction-Andrew-Carnie/dp/0470655313
To be honest, this book is really helpful and clear; it's one of the first dense books that I have enjoyed reading. May be too simple for you, but it does get into some advanced syntax.

http://www.amazon.com/English-Grammar-Dummies-Geraldine-Woods/dp/0764553224

My attempt to intervene in this discussion with examples of unconscious change:

• Even Queen Elizabeth II's vowels have changed over time during her annual Christmas broadcasts. I can't think of a reason for her to consciously adjust her speech as a living example of upholding a tradition. Edit for clarification:The beginning of the linked-to post criticizes coverage of the paper that studied the Queen's speech and isn't criticizing the paper itself.
  
  
• From page 146 and to page 155, the book The Unfolding of Language explains how "going to" acquired its use as a way of expressing the future tense by providing the transcript of a hypothetical press conference.

Short answer: Have a triliteral for "speak", then answer questions like

• If I put m-rh-n into a pattern for creating verbs (*emrhen) what does that mean?
  
• If I put sh-k-t into a pattern for creating nouns (*shekt) what does that mean?
  
• What other words can I form from m-rh-n and sh-k-t?
  
  Some cautionary advice: give some thought to the shape of the language before triliteral roots developed and what sound changes created the sense in the speakers' minds that three letters chosen from within the word would carry meaning as opposed to a whole root - your language will come out better for it. The Unfolding of Language has a pretty good overview of the process in Semitic - if you're not careful you'll end up creating something not interestingly different from Arabic.

I learned Zaner-Bloser in school, by dint of much perseverance and many tears, but I've always wanted to learn Spencerian. Luckily for me, there are these.

I found them on Amazon for $20

Spencerian Penmanship (Theory Book plus five copybooks) https://www.amazon.com/dp/088062096X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_C3yOzb2XG2CRJ

As strange as it may sound, the best thing that happened to me was acquiring a fountain pen.

Initially, I purchased the Spencerian Penmanship Copybooks and I found that basic repetition of simple strokes really helped to make myself aware of my hand and finger movements. The books helped me to, more than anything else, sit down in once place for an hour or so and simply focus on the techniques of writing. It got me familiar with practicing writing.

This is where the fountain pen comes in. I practiced my writing with a fountain pen, and the way the nub works and the weight of the pen made me very conscious of my every movement. Looking at my fountain pen writing, I was convinced that my handwriting hadn't improved. Yet when I set down my fountain pen and took up a normal ballpoint, the difference was easily noticeable; writing with a ballpoint pen was suddenly so easy. That was when I realized how my writing had improved.

Hope this helps, and best of luck in school!

tldr; Repetition and practice, coupled with a fountain pen.

I don't think there are many "one-line slams" that wouldn't draw attention. Focus on teaching your kids critical thinking, and be a kind, loving parent. IDK the situation with your spouse, but if you can, be honest (and respectful) when your kids ask what you believe. Show them that you and spouse can have different beliefs and still love each other.

Depending on their ages, the [Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments] (https://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Book-Bad-Arguments/dp/1615192255/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1541178668&sr=8-1&keywords=illustrated+book+of+bad+arguments) could be a fun way to help them recognize logical fallacies. It's not directly about the church, but that helps keep your efforts under-the-radar, and the concepts can help them in many areas of life.

Read my second reply to you

You might also want to look at this https://www.amazon.com/Reading-Comprehension-Success-Minutes-Builders/dp/1576854949

I have and really like The Emotion Thesaurus, but I'll check that one out too! Always nice to have more tools in the toolbox.

https://www.amazon.com/Critical-Reader-3rd-Complete-Reading/dp/0997517875/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=erica+meltzer&qid=1562576286&s=gateway&sr=8-1

You are probably beyond this stage, but I would generally suggest Shapiro, https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-about-Mathematics-Philosophy/dp/0192893068, to a student interested in that topic as a good starting point.

I'd recommend reading a book on the history of philosophy. That way, you'll have a working understanding of all the major philosophers, and you will probably find someone's philosophy interesting enough to pursue them further. A classic is Samuel Enoch Stumpf's Socrates to Sarte. A friend of mine also recommended a more contemporary book that he said is becoming more standard today. A New History of Western Philosophy by Anthony Kenny.

Other standards works many students start with include Rene Descartes's Meditations on First Philosophy. Also, Plato is a good starting point. The Five Dialogues are some of his earlier works. These include the Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, and Phaedo. I personally started with Plato's Republic, which a former professor informed me that you must read in order to consider yourself educated in today's world (Interestingly enough, he's only ever said that about books he's read).

Yes, this is some advanced grade A butthurt. I'd recommend an immediate trip to the ER.

Btw, here's something you might want to look into buying: https://www.amazon.com/English-Grammar-Dummies-Geraldine-Woods/dp/0470546646

His success's what?

Everything in linguistics is basicially a logic puzzle. You must prove that the data justifies your conclusion, whatever that conclusion may be. You find data in research about your subject, or from first-hand fieldwork where you're interviewing a speaker of your language. Undergrad research doesn't have to be splitting the atom, you're making too big a deal of this. Follow the format of other research you can find - believe me, 100 pages sounds like a lot, but after data formatting and some prose, it's a lot less than you think.

Essentially what you're trying to do is apply a guided roadmap to the thing that you've learned about, such that someone else can learn from it. From the complete basics to the conclusions, you should find an interesting question or a few about the field that you studied. What do you feel is interesting the dataset didn't cover? Maybe there was something that was covered, but not in enough detail for your liking? In simply reading data you should find these sort of interesting questions as you read. Try to poke holes in the research you read just as a thought exercise, does the data support it? These holes may spark a topic for you to get interested in.

It sounds like you might be struggling with the lack of basics. Is that correct? It sounds like a lot of your classes may have been taught by non-linguists stuck in these teaching positions, unfortunately. Can you read/write IPA? How much actual linguistics have you studied as part of your degree? Knowing this would allow me to be more helpful. If it's not a lot, try finding some introductory textbooks in various fields, like this for morphology, or this for syntax. Search through syllabi posted for various ling courses at BU/MIT/wherever aind see which texts are avaiable to you. Work through these intros to the topics and see if you can find some features or processes that interest you.

Amazon Link for OP

I actually asked this exact question, using your exact examples. And as per the other people in this thread, languages simplify and increase in complexity simultaneously, although there are particular trends of simplification and complexity, and they deal predominantly with increasing proximity between languages.

The book that will answer all your questions, is this one.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Unfolding-Language-Evolutionary-Invention/dp/0805080120/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370377912&sr=8-1&keywords=the+unfolding+of+language

Read this and this. Those two books are probably why I decided to major in linguistics. Both well written, and not at all dry

• Buy Remebering the Kanji
  
• read it while following the methods shown in the sites AJATT and Reviewing the Kanji
  
• work more and you'll be a japanese God in less than 1 year

https://www.amazon.com/dp/088062096X/ref=cm_sw_r_fa_awdo_t1_ywAlCbABBX12S

Get to it!

Spencerian Penmanship (Theory Book plus five copybooks) https://www.amazon.com/dp/088062096X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_ln96yb338H3W5

I stumbled upon them on Amazon. I swear they weren't there a couple of weeks ago. Ended up being a total impulse purchase for me. Here is the link:

http://www.amazon.com/Spencerian-Penmanship-Theory-Book-copybooks/dp/088062096X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374076983&sr=8-1&keywords=spencerian

I think your handwriting looks fine, but if you are wanting cursive, I could recommend the Spencerian penmanship (theory book plus five copybooks) I own these books, and I love them. It's a system based on ovals, and meant for speed, due to the 52° slant. I have linked below, both the UK link to buy them, and a US link.

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Theory-Book-Copybooks-Spencerian-Penmanship/dp/088062096X

US: https://www.amazon.com/Spencerian-Penmanship-Theory-Book-copybooks/dp/088062096X

Your textbooks don't explain what nominative, genitive, dative and accusative are?

The book I normally recommend is English Grammar for Students of German, but I can't guarantee it's better than what you already have.

There are four grammatical cases in German: Nominative, Accusative, Dative, and Genitive - these are pretty much equated with, respectively, the subject, direct object, indirect object, and possessive in English.

The nominative forms of the definite articles (der, die, das) and the indefinite articles (ein, eine, ein) that indicate gender will change to indicate what the role of each element in the utterance is:

-'Der Apfel ist rot.' - the apple is the subject and, therefore, the nominative 'der' is used.

But:
-"Ich kaufe den Apfel" - the apple becomes the direct object, as it is being acted upon by the subject, 'ich'. the nominative masculine form 'der' has been inflected to the accusative masculine form 'den'.

Then:
-"Ich gebe ihm den Apfel" - now, the apple that is being acted upon, through the act of giving remains in the accusative as the direct object. But we now have an indirect object in 'ihm' the dative masculine form of the nominative 'er'.

Now, this is just a basic gloss of what the accusative and dative cases functions are, but it should answer what you've asked.

Since you didn't ask about genitive I'm not getting into that, as getting the accusative and dative down can be a task in itself.

Here are a couple of links to great resources for grammar:

Schaum's Outline of German Grammar

Also, English Grammar for Students of German

Schreiben Lernen was helpful, as was Deutsch: Na Klar!

Also consider using lots of flashcards, because building up a vocab is going to be really helpful.

For grammatical structure try: English Grammar for students of German.

Viel Glück!

Check out Kenny's A New History of Western Philosophy, especially book IV, which covers way more of the 20th century than Russell's book.

Russell's history is great, but Anthony Kenny's updates it for the 21st century:
http://www.amazon.com/A-New-History-Western-Philosophy/dp/0199656495

Anthony Kenny's A New History of Western Philosophy is very good. Kenny has compared it to both Russel and Copleston, saying he wanted to be as readable as the former and as accurate as the latter. Each volume is divided into historical survey and analysis. It looks like the one-volume edition is what's currently available.

It does stop in the 1970s, and some have complained that Derrida gets the short shrift. But I found the writing accessible and the work thorough. Augustine and Wittgenstein, in particular, get some very good attention.

https://www.amazon.com/English-Grammar-Dummies-Geraldine-Woods/dp/0470546646

http://www.amazon.com/English-Grammar-Dummies-Geraldine-Woods/dp/0470546646

stop playing and you can buy this book for less than one month's subscription

Here, hope this helps.

For you, my friend.

Sweet Black fucking Sabbath kid, do us all a favor and please go buy this immediately.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0470546646/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1420366178&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SY200_QL40

Don't forget Amazon IN

>Wasn't that your comment? Didn't I directly address it?

You said I was a dumbass. You didn't attack my argument, you attacked me personally. That's called an "Ad Hominem" logical fallacy. Look it up.

>"I like how you look at the bible, which is one book" was one of his points.

No - it was a smaller section of his main point (and not even relevant to it), which was:

>I like how you look at the bible,..., and know it's true even though there are countless scientific volumes contradicting the events..." (emphasis mine - because that's the fucking point)

Apparently you fail at reading comprehension.

Edit: Maybe this would help you

I loved The Unfolding of Language by Guy Deutscher.

Recommended these a while back, great, assessable reads.

The Language Instinct by Stephen Pinker
http://www.amazon.com/The-Language-Instinct-Mind-Creates/dp/0061336467/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1343383543&sr=8-1&keywords=the+language+instinct

Patterns in the Mind by Ray Jackendoff
http://www.amazon.com/Patterns-Mind-Language-Human-Nature/dp/0465054625/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1343383561&sr=1-1&keywords=patterns+in+the+mind

And if you are into etymology, check out

The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way, by Bill Bryson
http://www.amazon.com/Mother-Tongue-English-How-That/dp/0380715430/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1343383614&sr=1-1&keywords=the+mother+tongue

The Unfolding of Language: An Evolutionary Tour Through Mankind's Greatest Invention, by Guy Deutscher
http://www.amazon.com/The-Unfolding-Language-Evolutionary-Invention/dp/0805080120/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1343383676&sr=1-2-fkmr0&keywords=guy+deucher+language

Again, all superb books.

Two resources that a majority of folks here will (without doubt) plug to you:

Kanji Damage

Heisig's Remembering the Kanji

Both of these are based around learning the components that comprise the Kanji (radicals) as opposed to learning each Kanji stroke by stroke. Make some flash cards and drill! I would suggest writing them out, but others seem content using an SRS like Anki. Some people also advise following Heisig's method and NOT learning the Japanese pronunciations until you've learning a hefty majority of the common use kanji, while others say you should learn the readings while you go (the Kanji Damage way). I've been chugging through Heisig's book at twenty kanji a day and it's been pretty easy.

Overall, as has been said over and over in this subreddit, do whatever you need to do to make learning it easy for you! Try stuff out and if it doesn't stick, move on to the next resource. Best of luck!

EDIT: I'd also like to add how even though kanji will seem really intimidating at first, once you get in the groove you'll find it's incredibly easy. Seriously. I'm at over 300 Kanji after three weeks of studying and can easily retain 90% of that when I'm studying and reviewing. If you approach it from the right angle, it shouldn't be too bad! :)

Remembering the Kanji and Mnemosyne

And of course read this

It sounds to me that the times in which you are unhappy with your ability to be assertive come from when you lack confidence. You say when pushed too far, you react in unbalanced ways, that you feel shitty when you have successfully presented your case, that you let others make decisions since you worry about the outcomes if you do, and that your attempts at assertiveness are often desperate. It seems to me, in these situations, you fear being wrong--you aren't confident that you are right.

Confidence during conflicts, arguments (since arguments aren't always conflicts), and decision making comes from a couple of difference places, in my opinion.

First, the ability to clearly articulate your own position. If your own position isn't clear to you, you're likely to fumble your words, miscommunicate, contradict yourself, etc. It also makes it more difficult for you to change your position if you are confronted with a good argument against it. Also, sometimes in arguments, there needs to be a give-and-take, meaning, your point may be lacking or overextending on something, and if you acknowledge that, your point can then be all the more stronger.

Second, your ability (and recognition of this ability) to competently analyze the situation and/or the counter-arguments. Now, I say this as a philosophy major, but a formal study of logic can aid enormously in this (here is a good, short book I would recommend if you were so inclined). However, I find that most people are already quite capable of this, since everyday language is composed of numerous analyses of situations and arguments. Sometimes all it takes is slowing yourself down. For example, I used to rush into conclusions and see things narrowly, which lead me to make a lot of mistakes and had an impact on my confidence. Slowing down just a little bit to contemplate other options can make a big difference. This can be practiced outside of arguments, too, which helps, since it is far less stressful that way.

Third, patience and self-control. Staying calm, striving for clear communication, being receptive to feedback, and being emotionally honest can all have a big impact on the ways your confidence is felt. A lot of people think that emotions are antithetical to reason, and for women, this is a particularly pernicious misconception. But the reality is that emotions are integral to the ways we come to understand the world around us, and being clear and honest about the way you feel with other people, and they to you, sheds a lot of clarity on a situation.

I hope some of this is helpful. You say that you are otherwise a confident person, so you know that side of yourself already. You just need to work it in to being assertive about something when you want to be. Best of luck!

Here are the links!

1. https://www.amazon.com/Cengage-Advantage-Books-Understanding-Introduction/dp/1285197364/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1497492050&sr=8-1&keywords=Understanding+Logic
   
   
2. https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Logic-Harry-J-Gensler/dp/1138910597/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1497492131&sr=8-1&keywords=introduction+to+logic
   
   
3. https://www.amazon.com/Rulebook-Arguments-Hackett-Student-Handbooks/dp/0872209547/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1497492196&sr=8-1&keywords=rule+for+arguments
   
   Hope it helps!

You failed to acknowledge that you said "Bullshit" in response to my statement about what I was providing. Your insistence on referencing OP only serves to demonstrate your inability to sustain a logical argument. Might I suggest you purchase the following?

https://www.amazon.com/Rulebook-Arguments-Hackett-Student-Handbooks/dp/0872209547

This is a good, short introduction that you can read in an hour or two. It is well written and it explains the basic rules for constructing an argument or writing an essay. It also recommends several longer texts on critical thinking at the end, if you're interested in pursuing the issue further.

https://www.amazon.com/Rulebook-Arguments-Hackett-Student-Handbooks/dp/0872209547

Good start! If you're serious about learning cursive though, get this book. Get it right the first time so your muscle memory remember the right stuff! I really wish I got the book in the beginning so I can stop finding out more fundamental things I do wrong as I get more and more into calligraphy..

Back in September I decided two things I wanted to get into fountain pens and I wanted to improve my handwriting. Before September it had been 15-18 years since I had written anything but my signature in cursive. I think I'm doing pretty good but I'm still not happy with it.... but I think I'm at the point were I wont see any more rapid improvements and I just need to keep writing and it will come over time. But if anyone has any ideas on how to improve my handwriting I'm open ears. I'm thinking about ordering Spencerian Penmanship book and workbooks. Anyone have any thoughts on them or others I might try?

Ive now moved into trying to improve my handwriting so i can do proper letters. I grabbed these recently and theyve been really helpful:


http://www.amazon.com/Spencerian-Copybooks-without-Theory-Penmanship/dp/0880620951/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1452308452&sr=8-2&keywords=Spencerian

May want to check out /r/handwriting for tips.

However, I recently got the Spencerian books after they were recommended on here a few times.

There are also a few good online resources were you can download practice sheets and whatnot. It may come down to what style you are wanting to learn.

I found the Spencerian copybooks helped me a great deal.

At first, though, they were a hindrance - I tried to start with the first page, fill it up completely, move on to the next, fill it completely, and so on - after a few days, I quit calligraphy altogether for several months because it was just too painfully tedious.

When I went back to it, I would do one line per page and move on to the next page, until I felt like I had to stop for the night. I'd then repeat the same pages each night, abandoning a page when I felt like I was reproducing it well enough.

Spencerian Penmanship (Theory Book plus five copybooks) https://www.amazon.com/dp/088062096X/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_zHecub01E9Y97

Spencerian Penmanship (Theory Book plus five copybooks) https://www.amazon.com/dp/088062096X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_bGgxCbYTZS889

The book mentioned in that article is currently out of print. However Amazon does have it, though it's a bit out of my price range at $2,691.46

Though I'm planning on picking up a copy of the Spencerian Penmanship books later this month once I get caught up on bills.

You are so awesome! I wish I could partake in this activity but I am just starting now! ( Spencerian theory book is on it's way!) I cant wait to get started and one day be able to join all of you here at /r/calligraphy! :D

If English is your first language I recommend this book: https://www.amazon.com/English-Grammar-Students-German-Learning/dp/0934034389 (buy a used copy)

I use:

Starter Kit

• Living Language German
  
  Understanding Grammar
  
  
• [English Grammar for Students of German Learning]
  (https://www.amazon.com/English-Grammar-Students-German-Learning/dp/0934034389/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1540389052&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=german+for+english+speakers&dpPl=1&dpID=41RAyW9uzAL&ref=plSrch)
  
  Verb overview with full conjugations and sample sentences
  
  
• 501 German Verbs
  
  Grammar exercises (this is great but in 100% German)
  
  
• Hueber dictionaries and study-aids: Schritte Ubungsgrammatik
  
  I have some online resources but prefer books. I also think these don’t „expire“ too soon and you can use them into A2. If you find used versions, it’s not too expensive.

German is one of the most widely spoken languages on the internet, so you're able to find a lot of grammar and other info. If you do decide to teach yourself, I'd highly recommend the book English Grammar for Students of German (assuming your native language is English). It might help you to get set up something where you're speaking German with someone via skype.


Fwiw, I'm really good at grammar. For me, it's a puzzle begging you to solve it.

Edit: I also highly recommend this site. It's really good and I've used it before as well for clarification on some of the more obscure grammar points.

Here , try this first. Then report back.

Here you go bud

Reading comprehension would tell you that I was able to take a string of replies by you on this thread, look at your history, and infer that you are a whiny ass person that pours hate nearly on anything Dany related -- especially if it has any nice "feelz" to it. I think related this to you more than likely mirroring your current life situation or character -- thus stating your life is probably shit like the stuff you spout on this forum.

Now what you are trying to do is discredit my stance by stating I am emotional, all the while completely avoiding really arguing the true debate: You are a whiney shitty person. Instead, you are just saying I am hysterical, blah blah blah blah.

That help? If not, please visit this link: https://www.amazon.com/Reading-Comprehension-Success-Minutes-Day/dp/1576854949

>This guy would have you think that men don't experience emotions

You can thank me later.

It didn't begin decades after Nixon. It started when they lost to Kennedy, so before Nixon. Read Don't think of an elephant by George Lakoff. Excellent and informative.

Conservative ideology is fundamentally about keeping existing hierarchies in place. They believe God is on top, and the believe men belong above women, parents above children, whites above non-whites. They believe that this is righteous and endowed by god, and that if you disrupt it, if you putting "the wrong people" in the "wrong places," that would allow the evil in the world to win.

Even more so, hidden in this belief, is the idea that hierarchies are inevitable. They think that disrupting the hierarchy does not destroy it but merely re-arranges it. Thus, by moving black people from "their place," that will inevitably result in white people being slaves. This is why they feel threatened. They never even entertained the possibility that people can be equal.

Thankfully, these are just ideas. They can be hard to unlearn, but it's why Fox News is so dangerous, reinforcing these beliefs at a substantial profit. If you want to know more, check out Lakoff's Don't Think of an Elephant: https://www.amazon.com/ALL-NEW-Dont-Think-Elephant/dp/160358594X/ref=dp_ob_title_bk which I found quite illuminating in this regard.

Then you've got to work on framing, and making your comments shorter.

Use line breaks.

And don't go over three sentences.

***

• Formatting also helps.
  
• It makes it harder to skip things.
  
• Do you think asking questions can help people engage critically?
  
  ****
  
  PS - Always directly link to something you want someone to check out.

Don't know how old your kids are. Maybe try these?

• [Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments] (https://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Book-Bad-Arguments/dp/1615192255/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1504731008&sr=8-1&keywords=illustrated+book+of+bad+arguments) to help them recognize faulty reasoning.
  
  
• [Science Mom video] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPvo7DkrFjo). This episode is actually about the color of blood (which is actually interesting on its own), but it does a great job explaining confirmation bias in a way kids can understand.

If you're looking to get them into general critical thinking (which would help in the long run surely), I've always held that having this book lying around can get some juice flowing.

Here you are!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1615192255/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1526416437&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=an+illustrated+book+of+bad+arguments&dpPl=1&dpID=61-3bJwurUL&ref=plSrch

Hey you can use any or all of the below mentioned resources:

WEBSITES:

1. Khan Academy; Official partner of the College Board. It consists of videos & questions related to each & every section of the SAT Test with detailed explanations & performance tracking. And it's totally free!
   
2. UWorld; This websites boasts of having a collection of more than 1800+ questions. with detailed explanation, detailed rationales for incorrect answers, performance tracking, vivid illustrations, track time to improve your speed, compare your results to peers and a lot more. PAID.
   
3. 1600.io; Offers multidimensional online instruction for the SAT. In addition to it also offers course-by-course basis preparation. It covers about 3,000 real SAT questions in 200 hours of video instruction. Although I don't have an experience with this site but it's highly appreciated by other test takers. PAID.
   
   BOOKS:
   
   

• Mathematics: Personally I don't fine this section on SAT abstruse so I think following books are more than enough to ace the SAT-Maths section;
  
  

1. The College Panda's SAT Math: Advanced Guide and Workbook for the New SAT; The best thing about this book is that it focuses on every particular section of SAT making it easy to comprehend & more helpful than the books that randomly talks about all the topics at once. Practice questions are incredible and are backed-up with Nielson's very simple & easy to understand answers & explanations. Also, there is a Website and any errors made in printing are mentioned on it.
   
2. The College Panda's 10 Practice Test For The SAT Math; Running out of Practice test? Want something more? Well this book has some relatively realistic versions of the SAT's mathematics sections (both calculator and no-calculator).
   
3. PWN The SAT: Math Guide; Still not satisfied with your SAT preparation? Longing for something more? When you're done with this book you'll be able to approach the SAT with confidence - very few questions will surprise you, and even fewer will be able to withstand your withering attacks.
   
   

• Writing:
  
  

1. The Ultimate Guide To SAT Grammar, 4th Ed; It isn't about drilling as most of them (books) are. It's about the philosophy of the SAT. Author backs up her advice with relevant questions from Khan Academy in each chapter & provides comprehensive coverage of all the grammar & rhetoric tested on the redesigned SAT Writing & Language Test. Two things that you'd miss - lack of enough practice questions & its overpricing (Especially for International Students). She had a Website where you can look-up for Errata & other college related information. You'll also get a practice question each day prepared by Erica herself!
   
2. The Ultimate Guide To SAT Grammar WB, 4th Ed; Fall short on practice questions? Need something to execute what you've learned so far? This accompanying workbook to The Ultimate Guide to SAT® Grammar contains six full-length tests in redesigned SAT format, each accompanied by thorough explanations designed to reinforce the concepts and strategies covered in the main grammar book.
   
3. The College Panda's SAT Writing: Advanced Guide & WB, 2nd Ed; This one is truly geared towards the student aiming for the perfect score. It leaves no stones unturned. It has clear explanations of all the tested SAT grammar rules, from the simplest to the most obscure, tons of examples to illustrate each question type and the different ways it can show up, hundreds of drills and practice questions to help you master the concepts and a lot more. AND, THREE PRACTICE TESTS.
   
   

• Reading: Probably the "hardest-to-score" section on the SAT test.
  
  

1. The Critical Reader, 3rd Edition; Intended to clearly and systematically demystify what is often considered the most challenging section of the SAT, this book provides a comprehensive review of the reading skills tested on the redesigned exam for students who are serious about raising their scores. Meltzer's explanations and tricks are very descriptive and include hints to easily discern the correct answer through process of elimination. Major drawback? Well, it lacks enough practice questions & is highly overpriced!
   
   

• ESSAY: For this section I'd say Khan Academy + these 2 books are more than enough. If you work with these modestly I guarantee you can easily achieve a perfect score on SAT Essay;
  
  

1. The College Panda's SAT Essay; The writer covers all of the main facets of the new SAT Essay, including the scoring, structure and key elements of a rhetorical analysis, combined with more strategic advice regarding such topics as paragraph structure, transitions, vocabulary usage, length, writing speed, quotations, examples, and the elements of persuasion. Author's high-scoring essay from the May 2016 exam is included where he shares everything from what he did right as well as the subtle things he initially missed.
   
2. SAT Vocabulary: A New Approach; Covers key vocabulary for the Reading Test, Writing and Language Test, and Essay. This book offers an approach that is aligned with the new SAT’s focus on vocabulary in context. The concluding chapter on the Essay is short but outstanding. The chapter features a particularly helpful presentation on 6 persuasive devices, a list of 25 top Essay vocabulary words, and best of all a real Level 24 essay written by a real student on the November 2016 SAT.
   
   Hope this helps. If liked, please don't forget to up-vote. And all the best for your preparation and test.

Haha it's ok, I'm not a native English speaker myself.

r/W: I got Erica Meltzer's Reading and Writing guides. I got the writing workbook but the practices inside are lackluster compared to UWorld or Khan.

Maf: Can't really help, my practice materials are in Chinese, but feel free to PM me for details if you can understand the bloody language.

I did get the Official SAT Guide but it sucks & I only used it for the practice tests, which are free to download from Khan/Collegeboard.

Barron's book for SAT I is shit. Do NOT get them. Their questions are off topic.

The best tip I can give you is to study as much as you can and understand your mistakes. You're not doing a part-time job here so studying for hours without thinking is useless: you'll just repeat your mistakes. I jot down the reasons for choosing the incorrect answers each time I found one wrong. I literally wrote careless mistakes if I made one, it sounds stupid but trust me, it helps.

Also, use practice tests as benchmarks for your progress and take it in real settings (e.g. same break time as real tests.) They're pretty accurate. I got 1410 on my first practice test and 1400 on my first real test.

If you don't have time, try doing bits by bits on the smartphone app. It's not ideal but at least you can do them when using public transportations or have bits and pieces of free time.

Edit: go subscribe to a newspaper, I recommend The New York Times. Read them when you want to take a break from questions and just do some normal reading. I think frequently reading is one of the main reasons I'm able to score 750.

Edit: fuck the new Reddit comment box

> Meltzer’s book

For the reading book, is this the book youre referring to? and thanks for the reply!

Erica Meltzer's Reading is an absolute godsend and her grammar book is also amazing.

Danke für den Buchtipp und vor allem den Kauftipp beim BPB! Mehr über das Thema und die Einordnung in den größeren Kontext der USA gibts in Klassikern wie The Working Poor von Shipler und mein persönlicher Favorit Empire of Illusion von Hedges (welches auch einen Pulitzerpreis gewann) nachzulesen.

Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle

Just finished that book...it was mostly a long essay. I'm looking for another one now while I work towards finishing To Save Everything, Click Here: The Folly of Technological Solutionism.

I toy with the idea of reading Discrimination and Disparities...but I just don't hate myself enough...

I'm pretty sure it's from Erica Meltzer's The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar.

​

https://www.amazon.com/4th-Ultimate-Guide-SAT-Grammar/dp/0997517867

It sounds like you're struggling on the writing part. Use this book https://www.amazon.com/4th-Ultimate-Guide-SAT-Grammar/dp/0997517867 to help. Your English will become better.

I got 3rd edition reading


https://www.amazon.com/Critical-Reader-3rd-Complete-Reading/dp/0997517875


And 4th edition grammar

https://www.amazon.com/4th-Ultimate-Guide-SAT-Grammar/dp/0997517867

Here is the link to the reading book: https://www.amazon.com/Critical-Reader-3rd-Complete-Reading/dp/0997517875

Here is the link to the grammar book: https://www.amazon.com/4th-Ultimate-Guide-SAT-Grammar/dp/0997517867

https://www.amazon.com/Critical-Reader-3rd-Complete-Reading/dp/0997517875/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=VZ5P4KXH47TXQJ2V3S6P

One of the best SAT books for reading. Probably THE best.

Reading: https://www.amazon.com/Critical-Reader-3rd-Complete-Reading/dp/0997517875/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1523859178&sr=8-3&keywords=sat+reading

Math: https://www.amazon.com/College-Pandas-SAT-Math-Advanced/dp/0989496422/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523859257&sr=8-1&keywords=math+college+panda

Those are both great.

Have you tried The Critical Reader: The Ultimate Guide to SAT Reading by Erica Meltzer? I recently bought it after seeing many recommendations and great reviews. While I haven’t used it yet, I’ve looked over it and its seems pretty helpful, goes over many areas I’m struggling with and has lots of examples and explanations etc. Most people will recommend this so if you haven’t already, I suggest you give this a try. Good luck!

Erica Meltzer's The Critical Reader 3rd Edition

2 Free SAT Reading e-books

Guide to SAT Reading: Literature Passages

Guide to SAT Reading: Global Conversation Passages

> How would you tackle the psat reading and writing portion? I'm currently missing around 5-7 reading questions and 4-5 writing questions. I've read both Barron's and Princeton's review books on how to answer reading questions. Barron's suggests to read the whole passage and focus on the introductary sentences, while Princeton's method is to use the questions to guide you to the answers from the reading section, so I'm a little confused on which method is better than the other.

Both Barron's ("Barron's's?") and The Princeton Review's SAT Reading strategies are rather simplistic and designed for the average student, not the high scorer. I would suggest that you simply find the method that works best for you, and that you buy an SAT Reading guide by a true professional such as Erica Meltzer.

For more information on SAT Reading strategies, check out my free e-book, Master the SAT.

• Erika Meltzer grammar and reading books
  
  
• Khan Academy
  
  
• Official SAT Study Guide

The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar by Erica Meltzer.
https://www.amazon.com/3rd-Ultimate-Guide-SAT-Grammar/dp/1511944137

There you go, it is purely for Grammar if you wanna do reading check out the Critical Reader by the same Author. For Math check Out College Panda

Here are some recent introductory books on the subject:

https://smile.amazon.com/Historical-Introduction-Philosophy-Mathematics-Reader/dp/1472525671/

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/0521533414/

https://smile.amazon.com/Thinking-about-Mathematics-Philosophy/dp/0192893068

https://smile.amazon.com/Philosophy-Mathematics-Princeton-Foundations-Contemporary/dp/0691161402

This is a really good book that I had to use in my philosophy of mathematics course. It's very accessible, and gives you a great introduction to philosophy of mathematics. It keeps things in perspective and reminds you what's at stake, the main questions, all in historical context: http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-about-Mathematics-The-Philosophy/dp/0192893068

Here's a professional review of the book attesting to its awesomeness: http://web.calstatela.edu/faculty/mbalagu/papers/Review%20of%20Stewart%20Shapiro%27s%20Thinking%20About%20Mathematics.pdf

To understand the general history of math, you won't need to understand what you most likely consider to be math. You will, however, need to understand how to put yourself in the shoes of those who came before and see the problems as they saw them, which is a rather different kind of thinking.

But anyway, the history of math is long and complicated. It would take years to understand everything and much of it was work done on paths that are now basically dead ends. Nevertheless, here are some other resources:

• In Pursuit of the Unknown: 17 Equations That Changed the World - In general, Ian Stewart is very good for introductory explanations to math.
  
  
• Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid - Perhaps the only explanation of Gödel's work that I would consider "good." It's notoriously lengthy and can be difficult to read, but it doesn't assume much about the reader.
  
  
• Thinking about Mathematics: The Philosophy of Mathematics
  
  
• Philosophy of Mathematics: Selected Readings
  
  
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  
  
• Science: A History - Math did not evolve in an intellectual bubble and much of the mathematics we use today evolved out of a sort of feedback loop between scientists and mathematicians.
  
  Of course, let's not forget what is possibly the most complete single resource available today:
  
  
• Wikipedia
  
  This is a huge area and I applaud you for being interested in it. If you decide to look into it seriously, you WILL find yourself confused, bored, and annoyed at times. Yet it's a beautiful history and one that will illuminate much of the apparently meaningless gibberish in calculus, as well as many other areas.
  

> The History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell - You'll learn a lot about how bad ideas never seem to die, but keep coming back. It will also sharpen your logical skills. Poor Nietzsche though.

No, this is a bad recommendation. Russell may have had a few interesting thought but this work of his is troublesomely biased to a number of ideas he did not agree with. His understanding of Kant in particular gets a lot of heat.

Anthony Kenny's "A New History of Western Philosophy" is a far better and more neutral source if you want a survey of western thought.

Sir Anthony Kenny's "A New History of Western Philosophy"

https://www.amazon.com/New-History-Western-Philosophy/dp/0199656495

In my experience subject histories are a wonderful way to learn the major epochs and gain an deep understanding of historical advancement without focusing solely on dates an events.

You clearly have poor grammar and English.

Your is a pronoun that means belonging to or associated with any person in general. If I were speaking about myself, I would have said “my people.”

I’ve [linked] (https://www.amazon.com/English-Grammar-Dummies-Geraldine-Woods/dp/0470546646) you an English Grammar for Dummies book to help you with your ineptitude.

Sure, blame it on autocorrect.

Also, it's too ugly, not to ugly.

http://www.amazon.com/English-Grammar-Dummies-Geraldine-Woods/dp/0470546646

You need this: https://www.amazon.com/English-Grammar-Dummies-Geraldine-Woods/dp/0470546646

And some anger management lessons as well.

I hadn't realized that language just ceased to evolve when you last learned it.

Did you know that yolo is now a word in the dictionary?

Did you know that you can end sentences in prepositions? Eg. "Where you at?"

The "are" is understood by the way. Something you're having trouble grasping.

Did you know that the word "literally" also has an informal definition, used to create emphasis on a subject?

You can check out all this cool new info here!

http://www.dictionary.com/

https://www.amazon.com/English-Grammar-Dummies-Geraldine-Woods/dp/0470546646

http://www.amazon.com/English-Grammar-Dummies-Geraldine-Woods/dp/0470546646

Like this.

Source: https://www.amazon.com/English-Grammar-Dummies-Geraldine-Woods/product-reviews/0764553224/ref=cm_cr_getr_d_paging_btm_11?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews&filterByStar=five_star&pageNumber=11

The Unfolding of Language by Guy Deutscher

if you're interested in book recommendations, I've been been reading the unfolding of language, which has some good discussion about the sort of processes that cause inflections to appear and disappear. I've found it to be a very easy and interesting read!

If you are a serious learner of the language, then this is site all you need IMO: All Japanese All The Time. I stumbled across this site while in college and in the course of three years (one of which was spent abroad in Japan), I learned Japanese to a very high level. If you are still a student, it will be even easier for you to take on this method.

One more thing. This is also a part of the AJATT method, but deserves separate recognition: Remembering the Kanji. In all my years of learning Japanese, this book was the single most useful text I've ever encountered.

Good luck!

He's not kidding. Mnemonics are the shit.

I'm learning kanji at the rate of 20 per day with the help of this book's mnemonic system. I spend at most five minutes per character, and after studying them and writing them down only once, I am able to remember them incredibly easy.

With the help of anki for review, it only takes me about four separate reviews spaced over a week or two to remember a character, essentially, permanently. According to my anki history, I've never failed a card that the system considers "memorized", and my success rate for cards a week or less old is 82%.

Before I came across that book I linked a little bit above, I was trying to memorize them by rote, writing each character down dozens and dozens of times every day until it stuck. I could only do maybe three or four characters each day, and I almost always half-forgot them three days later.

This is essentially the method (but with illustrations) behind Heisig's Remembering the Kanji, which is excellent.

If you really want to learn Japanese for real you should buy Remembering the Kanji, Vol. 1 and use this site until you have learned enough kanjis. Then proceed with SRS'ing sentences. After a year or so doing it everyday you will be able to get around Japanese websites and such!
EDIT: my sentence didn't made sense.

I found a couple books for you :) This one and thiiis one!!!

All whales are iguanas.
No iguanas live under the sea.
Therefore, no whales live under the sea.

Hey! You said nothing about soundness :) I hope this works

Weston's A Rulebook for Arguments is clear and concise.

Heinrichs' Thank You for Arguing is more informal with lots of pop culture references.

Sagan's Demon Haunted World is a paean to science & critical thinking and Whyte's Crimes Against Logic is good as well

I would definitely recommend practicing with real LR questions. Consider purchasing Fox’s Logical Reasoning Encyclopedia. It’s a huge collection of questions organized by type and from easiest to hardest so that you can work your way up.

That being said, if you are looking to read something that will make LR easier, consider a book like this:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0872209547/ref=pd_aw_sim_14_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=0K40QP66SXTM0BKQAHBS&dpPl=1&dpID=61X5ctUve8L

I literally just typed “fallacies” into amazon, but a book like this will basically cover every wrong argument you could see on the LSAT. I took a class on Critical Reasoning my freshman year and I know it gave me a head start on LR.

For reading comp, I’m a philosophy major so I have the opposite problem you do. Scientific articles throw me off a hair. If you want some interesting reads, check out the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy online. It’s free, the language is very formal and sophisticated, and you can read about basically anything and everything you’d want. The LSAT seems to like bringing up utilitarianism relatively often, so maybe check out their page on that. Also the LSAT mentions Kant pretty frequently, so you can also check out the page on him.

Of course this isn’t necessary to get a perfect LSAT score; the test, as you know, does not presuppose any prior knowledge about these topics. However, I’m sure you have found, as I did, that it’s easier to read about things you know something about. Read some philosophy, but drill drill drill those RC passages!

As for getting a 170, I can’t say. My diagnostic was 155, and I got a 164 in February. My last two PTs were over 170, but obviously the only one that counts is the official.

You’ve got this!!!

Spencerian theory book

I also have the copy books

> Spencerian theory book

This thing?

Well that's a great reason to start learning! You would probably consider learning the Spencerian principles– it was the handwriting style taught in schools in the US from about 1850–1930 and was developed both for fast long-form copy and beauty of stroke. There's a great little theory book that you can buy on Amazon for $5 (slightly more expensive if you get the package with 5 copy-books included for practice). I highly suggest it– good on you for doing something nice for your mom.

Enjoy!

I'm sorry. By spencerian books, are you referring to this ?

Do I need to use a flex nib or a calligraphy pen to get started, or can I start with just a regular FP?

I'm on the same journey, friend. I started with ordering some nice gel pens, and that helped. But I moved on to an entry level fountain pen, the Pilot Metropolitan Fine, and it has really sparked my love for writing. I ordered some Spencerian Script workbooks here and the theory book here, and already started last night with taking it slow and working on my grip. I wish you luck!

It was a long road.

Thanks a lot! I'm sure I'll get more relaxed and less shaky over time. But in the mean time, do you think I should get this? I've been contemplating for a while now, and I want to know whether it would help or not.

Have you tried the Spencerian Penmanship course? My handwriting was on par with yours when I started, but after only five days practicing one page per day (only takes around 30-45 minutes) my handwriting has markedly improved.

http://www.amazon.com/Spencerian-Copybooks-without-Theory-Penmanship/dp/0880620951/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1YATDDXHWXJXF021Z34Z

Like reader313 says you may need a different pen, but keep at it. Seriously, don't give up because you have the wrong pen. Practice for a few days and post an update!

Is she interested in broad edge calligraphy (stuff that looks like a medieval manuscript) or pointed pen calligraphy (stuff that looks like fancy cursive)? If it's pointed pen, these are a set of copybooks for one form of pointed pen (note that they're meant to accompany a theory book, sold separately). If broad edge, here is a free downloadable pdf of Italic, one form of broad edge calligraphy.

You could also make such a book yourself fairly easily. Just find a ductus (the diagram of a letter with little arrows) of the alphabet or alphabets she wants to practice. This book has a bunch of them, and you can find others by googling "[name of alphabet] ductus." Cut out each letter in a graphics program and paste them in front of some lines. Print and bind it into a book, and voila.

(This next section is going to use some fairly basic calligraphy terms. If you don't understand what something means, please read through our wiki and google any terms you don't understand. The answers are out there, I promise.)

If she's doing broad edge, find out what size nib(s) she'll be using, then determine the x-height of the alphabet you want to put in your exercise book. There's usually a nib ladder to the left of the ductus. That will tell you the x-height.

Let's say it's Textura quadrata, the x-height is 5, and she's using a pen with a .8mm wide nib. Then you can go to a guideline generator like this one, set the x-height to 5 lines, set the nib width to .8mm, and get a pdf that you can paste the letters from the ductus into.

Once you have your pages, you can bind them yourself, or just turn them into a pdf, take the pdf to a copy shop and ask them to turn the pdf into a spiral notebook (or whatever binding they offer that strikes your fancy).

I'm not sure what the proper name is, I'm just curious about what you used to learn it.

A lot of people use this(I assume you're familiar with it) and I'm currently working through it myself.

However, I haven't seen anyone's handwriting after they've completed the workbooks. I have seen what you're doing, so that's why I asked what you used to learn that.

I recommend having a look on this one.

Theory Book & Five Copybooks (Spencerian Penmanship)

I started using this set to improve my penmanship and it’s helped a lot! Make sure to check out /r/Handwriting, but whatever you do, don’t buy a fountain pen! I somehow fell down that rabbit hole, and my new $60 pen will be here tomorrow, along with another $40 worth of inks and notebooks. And, uh, that’s cheap...

I got this and worked all the way through it. It was very good.

http://www.amazon.com/Spencerian-Penmanship-Theory-Book-copybooks/dp/088062096X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1462298862&sr=8-2&keywords=spencerian

I'm now working on Michael Sull's American Cursive Handwriting in the link previously posted here. I'm REALLY getting a lot out of that, but note that "American Cursive Handwriting" book is NOT Spencerian. That's the one he's currently mostly pushing on his site. But he does have a lot of other Spencerian books and resources on the site.

Are you looking for block printing (Tech diagrams/schematics/spec sketches). Or more fancy writing? The things that are encouraged for readability on documents for emergency communications (I do red cross disaster and am a crisis manager for a telco). Block print in small caps. So what I did to help is to get some graph paper and practice ~20m 3x/week. As you practice this you will notice that certain letters look really good to you. Highlight these and the next time out try to make your letter look like the one that you highlighted. If you are looking for cursive improvement there are handbooks/workbooks. I have used spencerian penmanship books.

For Copperplate

For Spencerian


For Cursive basics(The content is good, but the paper isn't great for FPs, so you will probably need to use a Fine nib)

I thinks its just a case of writing a page of each letter, taking your time to form the letters correctly. And then doing the same with words etc until you can slowly get faster and faster.


Also I would say spend an evening of two on form, how to hold the pen, and some exercises to help you get the hang of the different movements that all letters are made from. I found these books really helpful, although I did end up changing some of the letters to speed up my handwriting.

I bought the mott media reprint of the original Spencerian workbooks off of Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/088062096X It's rather old-fashioned, but it'll get you the basics and you can adapt it to regular use without much effort. Spencerian was originally supposed to be efficient, and with practice, you're supposed to be able to write it at a pretty good speed while still having it be easy to read.

I picked up spencerian. Its nice but very slow. Properly practiced, most cursive are faster to write than print. Part of the reason they exist. Though spencerian, super slow. Will improve with muscle memory though.

If you need something faster, business script could be what you need.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/088062096X/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1487481437&sr=8-3&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=spencerian+handwriting

I have been working through that with a flex pen. Very rewarding but its kinda weird to re learn to write at 32, but like you my hand writing was always crap.

From that book i learned i missed many fundamentals they simply did not teach. Oh well.

I've been using this Spencerian theory and workbook set and it's helped me immensely. Pretty cheap too.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/088062096X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1421211841&sr=8-1&dpPl=1&dpID=51Q0SSR5udL&ref=plSrch&pi=AC_SY200_QL40

Title : English Grammar for Students of German: The Study Guide for Those Learning German
3rd Edition

Author : Cecile Zorach

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0934034389/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_HHpqDbBHPH31J

This book explains English grammar in a way most of us native speakers fail to understand. English is hard.

For beginners: http://www.amazon.com/English-Grammar-Students-German-Learning/dp/0934034389/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413161749&sr=1-2&keywords=german+english+grammar

Beginning to intermediate: http://www.amazon.com/Schaums-Outline-German-Grammar-4ed/dp/0071615679/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413161727&sr=1-6&keywords=german+grammar

Beginning to intermediate: http://www.amazon.com/Hammers-German-Grammar-Usage-Edition/dp/1444120166

Intermediate to advanced: http://www.amazon.com/Practice-Grammar-German/dp/3190272557/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413161823&sr=1-1&keywords=hueber+practice+grammar+german

In the same way that die can be either an article or a relative pronoun in German, that can be either a relative pronoun or a simple subordinating conjunction in English. Sometimes the same form fulfills multiple functions in a language. It's simply a different way of dividing up the grammatical work.

Edit: I will point out that we actually can make a distinction here in English, but only for inanimate vs. animate antecedents. If it's a relative pronoun, you can get that or who(m). If it's just a plain subordinating conjunction, you'll only get that.

• I know that he is already here. (conjunction)
  
• I know who he is already here. (conjunction, so the form does not change)
  
• That is the most beautiful house that I have ever seen. (relative pronoun)
  
• That is the most beautiful woman who I have ever seen. (relative pronoun, so the form may change)
  
  If you have never been taught basic grammar, you might find this book useful in drawing comparisons between English and German.

I am no sure if a single text can help you achieve your goals for self-study.

However, I have heard great things about the "Erkundungen" and "Begegnungen" Deutsch Als Fremdspreche series from Schubert-Verlag for existing self-study learners, which also has an online site for grammar exercises, http://www.schubert-verlag.de/aufgaben/index.htm

Alternatively, an English and progressive teaching grammar like this well known one may suit you better:

"English Grammar for Students of German"

Salaam,

I think I understand what you're experiencing, but we are all going through different things. I can only speak from experience. I can't assure you that my advice will help you.

I always had faith but the doubts were never fully silenced.

"Are the sacrifices I'm making really necessary? What about those who live without having religion to guide them? Do we truly need religion to guide us in this advanced post modern age? Don't we have it all figured out by now?"

These are the doubts I had growing up. It was never questions having to do with Islam specifically, but more so with religion and ideology as a whole. It's very difficult justifying ideology in a self-professed post-ideological age. And it's tough living in this society when we're constantly tempted to stray from the straight path. We are constantly tempted by that which has been engineered to be desirable to us.

And we are deprived of advanced cultural criticism that can connect the dots with a society that allows for those temptations, and the other major problems that we face as individuals, as a result.

For me, I had to educate myself with social criticism of post-modern society. I had to understand where ideology exists for those who claim to have none.

Some of the thinkers that helped me are:

-Slavoj Zizek (check out his talks on ideology in postmodern society, and on Bhuddhism)

-Neil Postman "Amusing Ourselves to Death" (intro on youtube)

-Fyodor Dostoyevsky "Notes from Underground [pdf]"

-Chris Hedges "Empire of Illusion"

and probably the most

www.thelastpsychiatrist.com

The blog is by an anonymous psychiatrist and features incredibly insightful analysis of current events and the impact of popular media on society. This blog helped me make sense of the post-modern society we live in and it's pitfalls. The writing style can be difficult to adapt to, and it takes some effort but I started with the movie reviews/analysis and got hooked. Let me know if you'd like any specific post recommendations.


So that covers a lot of reading. Check out Rick Roderick's excellent lecture series on youtube, The Self Under Siege. This series introduced me to many of these thinkers and their views on the self in modernity. I recommend starting with Foucault, Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and Roderick's own views on philosophy and postmodern culture. He's an excellent speaker.

And this BBC documentary series Sea of Faith is very interesting. I like Kierkegaard but his writing is so difficult to grasp.

All that is personal advice that may or may not be helpful. Some general things that you should not forget: Stay strong akh! Keep talking to your friends and family about the issues on your mind. Be patient. Don't fret. Seek refuge in your Lord. Read the Qur'an. Insha'Allah things will get better!

>He refuses to admit to that dark part of porn.

That's just delusional. Is he at all interested in literature or ideas? If so, make him read David Foster Wallace's "Big Red Son" or the "Illusion of Love" chapter in Chris Hedges "Empire of Illusion. Either will slap him straight. Or, you know, make him watch this.

If he refuses to make any real effort to fight his porn addiction, you really should find someone at least brave enough to try. They are out there.

Week Twelve of the Russian Intervention in Syria:

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVUGQ8VS_Rk)

By The Saker | Dec 29, 2015

In last week’s review of the Russian military intervention in Syria I wrote that Kerry had lost every single negotiation he ever had with the Russians and that he had a record of agreeing to A only to come back to the US and then declare non-A.

This time again, the Americans did not change their modus operandi, except that it was Obama himself who declared, yet again, that Assad must go, resulting in some commentators speaking of a “White House Schizophrenia”.

[http://original.antiwar.com/daniel-mcadams/2015/12/22/white-house-schizophrenia-kerry-assad-can-stay-obama-assad-must-go/]

Others, however, noted that this could be simply a case of face saving denials.

[https://www.rt.com/shows/crosstalk/326846-syrian-civil-war-washington/]

Personally, I think that both of these explanations are correct.

There is no doubt that Obama is an exceptionally weak, and even clueless, President.

The man has proven to have no vision, no understanding of international relations, his culture is minimal while his arrogance appears to be infinite – he is all about form over substance.

This is the ideal mix to win a Presidential election in the USA, but once in the White House this is also a recipe for disaster.

When such a non-entity is placed at the top of the Executive branch of government, the different part of government do not get a clear message of what the policy is and, as a result, they each begin doing their own thing without worrying too much about what the POTUS has to say.

The recent article by Sy Hersh “Military to Military” is a good illustration of that phenomenon.

[http://www.lrb.co.uk/v38/n01/seymour-m-hersh/military-to-military]

Being weak and lacking vision (or even understanding) Obama’s main concern is conceal his limitations and he therefore falls back on the oldest of political tricks: he tells his audience whatever it wants to hear.

Exactly the sames goes for Kerry too.

Both of these man will say one thing to the Russian rulers or during an interview with a Russian journalist, and the exact opposite to an American reporter.

That kind of “schizophrenia” is perfectly normal, especially in the USA.

To use the expression coined by Chris Hedges, the USA is an “Empire of Illusion”. [http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Illusion-Literacy-Triumph-Spectacle/dp/1568586132]

The US society has an apparently infinite tolerance for the fake as long as the fake looks vaguely similar to the real thing.

This is true on all levels, ranging from the food Americans eat, to the way they entertain themselves, to the politicians they elect and to the putative invincibility of the armed forces their taxes pay for.

It is all one gigantic lie, but who cares as long as it is a fun, emotionally reassuring lie.

In the Syrian context, this ability to ignore reality results in the support of terrorism in the name democracy, the conduct of an “anti-Daesh” campaign which results in Daesh dramatically increase it’s territory, the accusation that Assad used chemical weapons and now the “Assad can stay but he must go” policy.

This ability to completely decouple rhetoric and reality can sometimes have a positive side-effect.

For example, even if this week saw a Zag!

From the US Administration in terms of rhetoric, this does not necessarily mean that the USA will continue to attempt to overthrow Assad.

The opposite is also true, however.

The fact that the US has said that Assad can stay in no way implies that the US will stop trying to overthrow him.

The bottom line is this: yes, there was definitely a Zag! this week, but only time will tell how much of a zag we are dealing with.

In this context I highly recommend the recent article by Alexander Mercouris entitled “Russian diplomacy achieved a trio of Security Council Resolutions over the last month which give Russia a decisive advantage” in which he explains how Russia has achieved victory after victory at the UN Security Council.

[http://thesaker.is/russian-diplomacy-achieved-a-trio-of-security-council-resolutions-over-the-last-month-which-give-russia-a-decisive-advantage/]

What is important here is that with each of these Russian-sponsored Resolution the number of available options for the USA are gradually being reduced.

Another factor also reducing the US options are all the tactical successes of the Syrian military whose progress is slow, but steady.

The intensive pace of Russian airstrikes is having an effect on Daesh and the Syrians are slowly advancing on all fronts.

There has been no Daesh collapse yet, but if the Syrians continue to advance as they have done so far their offensive will eventually reach a critical point when the quantity of their small (tactical) victories will end up triggering a qualitative (operational) reaction and Daesh will begin to collapse.

Of course, the Daesh fighters will have the option of finding safety in Turkey, Jordan, Iraq and elsewhere, but the psychological impact of a Daesh defeat in Syria will be huge.

So far there are no signs of a possible Turkish invasion of northern Syria, no signs that anybody is still thinking about imposing a no-fly zone, and besides the murder of Samir Kuntar in an Israeli airstrike, it appears that the S-400s are achieving the desired deterrent effect.

In other words, while US leaders have their heads stuck deep up into their own delusions, the events on the ground are slowly but steadily reinforcing the Russian position and vindicating Russia’s stance.

In the meantime, the Syrian Christians who follow the Gregorian Calendar are celebrating Christmas in the streets of Latakia in a clear sign that a multi-confessional Syria still exists and has a future.

One shouldn't have to read something a second time because you can't find the comma on your keyboard. It's also quite ironic that you start using punctuation once you're called out on it. What happened to prose?

It was also completely in context. If you think that it wasn't, I have a book for you. Unfortunately, it was written in proper English, not prose.

Kyle did a nice job there. The framing pressures at Fox News are at such full force that you have to be very active in counteracting them. Otherwise you will fall into any of a long list of games they play with their average viewer to gain support for their conclusions. I would suggest a book by George Lakoff called Don't Think of an Elephant, as it's about that very subject

This book is the go-to if you're interested in political messaging.

Everyone interested should read or re-read "Don't think of an elephant." by Lackoff. I just re-read my 2004 version and noticed that there was an updated version in 2014. Amazon Link

Are you asking for fiction or nonfiction?

https://www.amazon.com/The-ALL-Dont-Think-Elephant/dp/160358594X/ref=pd_sim_b_7?ie=UTF8&refRID=0DJR12FT9DCWA0MR341Z comes to mind for non-fiction

It’s a fundamental personality trait. Some people are drawn to this this “strong father” archetype and enjoy authoritative leaders and a social hierarchy based on social darwinian justice. Others, i.e. educated people (seriously, look it up), prefer egalitarianism and freedom of choice, with a solid social safety net. These are less likely to believe that the people that happen to be “on top” morally better than those currently on the bottom. Whereas the authoritarian thinker finds comfort in believing that everyone is getting exactly what they deserve.

So this explains, for example, some of the defense of the current president. He is the president, thereby he deserves to be the president. He is “wealthy,” thereby he is better than those who are not, and has moral authority. It doesn’t matter what he says or does, because authoritarian people rigidly respect the power structure, because it makes their world make sense.

This is mostly coming from this book (and some psych papers that I can’t recall at the moment):

https://www.amazon.com/ALL-NEW-Dont-Think-Elephant/dp/160358594X

Soooooooo a Front Row Motorsports driver losing his entire ride because he was racing for the win and his move happened to fuck over your Penske driver as well as himself? I've got a book for you to read.

An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments by Ali Almossawi, Alejandro Giraldo (Hardcover) becuase it's frickin hilarious and the art is awesome xD

A good book that gives a ton of this type of body language and cues for pretty much any emotion is The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Expression

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00822WM2M

Even though The Emotion Thesaurus is directed at writters, I think some GMs could find use in reading it.

I feel ya, I bought the "Emotion Thesaurus" because i was struggling with this. It made me realize I was creating flat, emotionless dynamics between characters because I just didn't know how to express it other than in dialogue.

Honestly the only way to work through that is to experiment. Like try write a scene with an obvious emotional arc, something easy to work with and cliché and on the nose. You kind of get a feel for it as you progress, and then you can work with nuance and hidden motives and overlapping emotions (still working on that myself). It's just one of many tools in the writer's toolbox, but it's critical, without the emotional development and progression, no one cares.

One great piece of advice i read and shared recently (and promptly forgot the source) was that to explore emotions in fiction, a great strategy is to show thought processes. Like rather than "Joan was sad about losing her dog" you could work with "Joan realized she may never find a dog like the one she had lost. Was it her fault? Was she a bad master?" and explore the emotions with self-reflection and introspective inner monologues etc.

What are you describing? Are you describing emotions? Physical characteristics? Location? Action? Amazon has all kinds of books that focus on particular subjects and how to describe them; for example, The Emotion Thesaurus and Writing Vivid Settings. If you take a look at those two, it will lead you to other books that focus on how to write descriptions.

There's a good book series, hold on I'll link it, bought these for myself, and they're great https://www.amazon.com.au/Emotion-Thesaurus-Writers-Character-Expression-ebook/dp/B00822WM2M

The Elements of Style by Strunk and White.

The Emotion Thesaurus by Ackerman and Puglisi. Also their negative and positive trait thesauri.

I think it's valuable to keep a dictionary and thesaurus on your writing device, even though both are quickly available online. But an encyclopedia is obsolete, in my opinion, replaced by the internet, especially Wikipedia.

Read chapter 2 from this book
Chris Hedges - Empire of Illusion
https://youtu.be/vOZLdw6n2L4
https://www.amazon.com/Empire-Illusion-Literacy-Triumph-Spectacle/dp/1568586132

You can get it on Kindle. This will probably give you everything you need. It really helped my husband. The one ex porn actress explains how she got into porn and why. It also looks at the porn industry since the 70's and how the unscrupulous pieces of shit have started targeting children.

If anything could possibly give you sympathy for women in porn, it is chapter 2 from this book.

TV...

http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Illusion-Literacy-Triumph-Spectacle/dp/1568586132/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335361195&sr=8-1

your pdf doesn't contradict my claim.


There are two effectiveness rates I discussed, one for perfect use and another for the actual real world rate. Perfect use means exactly that, the user made no mistakes in the use of that contraception. For condoms this means having the right size, lubricating sufficiently, etc to minimize risks of tears. For the birth control pill, this means taking it everyday and at the same time. The effectiveness of the BC pill is greatly diminished if you don't take it at the same time everyday.

​

This is why I made the distinction between perfect use and real world effectiveness, because dumb people like you who don't pay attention to the details are inevitably going to fuck it up.

​

Condoms, when used 100% perfectly, have a maximum effectiveness of 98%. In your PDF it gives the real world rate of 82% (in my original claim I said 85% for condoms, close enough).

The pullout method, when used 100% perfectly, has a 100% maximum effectiveness. I also said that the real world effectiveness of pullout is likely less than condoms. In your PDF it says 78% effectiveness.

​

https://www.amazon.com/Reading-Comprehension-Success-Minutes-Builders/dp/1576854949 for you.

Nice job buddy, sounds like you've really got my worldview figured out: you caught me! And I thought I'd almost gotten away with being a closet feminist worshipper. Darneedoodle.

Since you enjoy writing things so much more than reading them, here's a book I think you might profit from:

http://www.amazon.com/Reading-Comprehension-Success-Minutes-Day/dp/1576854949

Well, this might be for you then.

If you have an Amazon account, give this a try. I think you might find it useful.

(Hint: trying reading my first post again. Carefully this time. Don't just look at the words. Try to understand them. Good luck!)

>So... you're saying a man that slaps a woman is slapping all women while a woman that slaps a man is slapping one man?

I didn't even come close to saying that. This might help you out.

A lot. https://www.amazon.com/ALL-NEW-Dont-Think-Elephant/dp/160358594X

>which is just too absurd to even debate.

Both of us see the world differently. Our frameworks of understanding and interpreting the world stand in complete opposition on what we're talking about. That's why you don't understand what I'm saying. You should read George Lakoff. I think you'll find it informative... especially relating to this debate.


I recommend, The ALL NEW Don't Think of an Elephant!: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate

Oldie but a goodie, required reading to understand messaging: Don't Think of an Elephant by George Lakoff.

I've heard several Trumpians slip similar terms into conversations. Just yesterday a pro-Trump friend of mine, drew a comparison between family and nation by saying: "It's like mommy's gone and daddy isn't going to put up with the same bullshit as her."

I don't know if this metaphor emerged naturally or as a byproduct of a broadly distributed theme amongst the movement. In either case, it's been fairly well-described by George Lakoff as "strict-father" v. "nurturant parent" models of political thought. From [a 2004 SvN blog post](* https://signalvnoise.com/archives/000718.php):


> What the strict-father model attempts to accomplish is this: it is assumed children have to learn self-discipline and self-reliance and respect for authority. Now another important part of this model, in America but not in other countries, has to do with what happens when such children mature. The slogan, “eighteen and out,” is common. The mature children are supposed to be off on their own as soon as possible. Good parents don’t interfere in their lives. If the nation is the family and the government is the parent, in the strict-family model, the government shouldn’t meddle in their lives.

> When I looked at the liberal model of the family, I found it a very different model. It assumes the main thing a parent has to do is care for and care about his child. It is through being cared for and cared about that children become responsible, self-disciplined and self-reliant. The purpose is to make children become nurturers, too. Obedience for children comes out of love and respect for parents, not out of fear of punishment. Instead of punishment, you have restitution.

If you don't want to buy/read the books, here are some digestible references:

• http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2003/10/27_lakoff.shtml
  
• http://www.questioningchristian.com/2004/11/strictfather_co.html
  
  Longer reads for those more interested:
  
  
• http://escholarship.org/uc/item/4jt0p1hw#page-2
  
• https://www.amazon.com/ALL-NEW-Dont-Think-Elephant/dp/160358594X

And this why it is REQUIRED reading of Lakoff. The one book. He nails it 100%.

Father figure, mother figure, etc.

Just buy the damn book (and read it) already!


\> In this updated and expanded edition, Lakoff, urges progressives to go beyond the typical laundry list of facts, policies, and programs and present a clear moral vision to the country―one that is traditionally American and can become a guidepost for developing compassionate, effective policy that upholds citizens’ well-being and freedom.


https://www.amazon.com/ALL-NEW-Dont-Think-Elephant/dp/160358594X/ref=sr_1_2_twi_pap_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1543501925&sr=1-2

​

On Amazon. There's a free audiobook as well.

Lol I tried to summarize modern markets and how tech giants are formed. I don't reply for you, but anyone who wants to develop their understanding of it. If it's beyond something you choose to understand, no problemo homie, it ain't for everyone. You do you.

If you want to hear my life story, you're gonna have to at least buy me dinner at a truck stop and let me draw you naked.

This is also one that might interest you.

When my brother moved out, he gave me An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments by Ali Almossawi. It’s a really interesting short book of the different kinds of logical fallacies and false argument strategies. It’s a really cool book that’s perfect for a coffee table with all of these plus more.

> first, they start by reframing the discussion so that A) it looks like a moderate position (public repentance of a wrong is a good thing) is the equivalent of an extreme view (racial violence is encouraged) and B) the other party in the discussion is insincere.

First, I started by pointing out your contradictory words.

>then they introduce the Gish Gallop. The Gish Gallop takes advantage of the fact that the time/effort/difficulty of spewing bullshit is lower than the refutation of said bullshit. for more information check out wikipedia.

Then, since you're not against judgement, I asked which specific judgement you're judging, which you are unable to address except by misusing the term "gish gallop".

>It is helpful to the troll to ignore the fact that multiple things can be true at the same time (in this case, that racism is bad and that acknowledging racist thoughts/actions in ourselves can help fight it).

Then you randomly suggest two unstated things could, maybe, be true, without actually saying either is true - or what you think might be true.


>This is where the "concern" part of "concern trolling" comes in. here /u/redroguetech is saying that /u/Whatsthedealwithit11 (and others who agree) are making problems worse by not dealing with the real problem and that his(?) view is both strategically, and morally, wrong.

Then, in pointing out that you're judging PC warriors judging someone somehow makes some unstated problem somehow worse (despite that two things could be true).

>More Gish Gallop.

More random misuse of a term.

>more misrepresentation. Clearly, the issue /u/whatsthedealwithit11 was disgusted by was "shaming people for admitting to becoming a better person" but out troll twisted that into "poor Neeson"

And lastly, deflection and vague denial that you had a point to begin with.

>Now, the issue is "why would someone do this?" There are 2 answers, either A) /u/redroguetech wants to sew discord into the discourse and generally spread the idea of bad-faith arguments being the norm [lots of international soft-power to be gained by doing this on a largely American and European social media website] or B) /u/redroguetech is an alt-righter trying to show the "problems" with PC-culture and earn cool-points while "owning the libs at their own game." (yes, I know I said Russian at the start, but it could be someone furthering their goals unwittingly.)

Now, the issue is "why would someone do this"? There are two answers, either A) They really are that incapable of basic rationality, and B) They're racist and hate anyone judging people for wanting to murder black people.

The best way for the troll to have a world in which dull racist people are welcome is to make arguments that consist of blah blah whaaa bu-bu-but ad hominem word making.

EDIT: for more information about how this works check out the child's book An Illustrated Guide to Bad Arguments.

NOTE (consperacy theory rant): The russian government and alt-right media has made people so accepting of irrationality and racism to the point where people actually openly support murdering black people, and literally aren't able to see why that might be a problem. This issue is so beyond the ken of right-minded people, it's clear the best we can fight for is to delay the ultimate slide into facism and rampant genocide.

Smart to wait until you moved out and become independent!

As far as a good way to explain it, check out this book. It explains it in plain language with illustrations.

GENERAL FEEDBACK

The piece wasn't a complete train wreck, but it didn't blow me away either for reasons that I'll get to in the mechanics section. My main issues with the piece are a consistent one or two clause sentence structure. (I ate coco puffs and the sky was falling. The coco puffs were good. The sky falling sky wasn't.) You need to wring more out of your descriptions and make each sentence work a little bit harder. It can take some practice doing, but it is better to have to much that you can cut down -- rather than having to construct whole descriptions of objects in my opinion. This, however, is not an excuse to spew giant info dumps upon the reader. Make sure to add details as the main character interacts with them, which will in turn help with showing rather than telling.

MECHANICS


> The path we traveled grew more worn as the environment around us slowly shifted from the lush forest I was familiar with into that of a swamp. The rich green of the forest floor began to give way to the wet browns and greys of the wetlands. Arlets feet fell with a moist plop in the muddy soil and the smell of mildew filled the humid air. Our path was raised to avoid being completely taken by the swamp and its water. One could not say that these people were completely at their home’s mercy

I'll spend some time deconstructing your opening paragraph to give examples what I'm talking about. The first sentence is abysmal and it's a good example of one that looks like it's doing something, but requires another sentence to say what you did before (e.g. how is the forest shifting to wetland? I don't get a picture of it). The second could simply be the opening line, and the reader can begin to infer that the forest was shifting to wetlands, and you could describe some of the foliage. Since this is an academic written in first person, it would establish his character if he could precisely name some of the plants and it makes sense to describe some interesting examples of foliage that you could come up with. As it stands his absorption into this new world feels shallow because there isn't much description of it. Try reading the opening section of Perdido Street Station by China Mieville if you want the most evocative description that I've read of a setting, and a fantastic novel centered around an academic. "Ardets feet fell with a moist plop in the muddy soil and the smell of mildew filled the air" This is a good example of showing rather than telling, and giving descriptions of the scenery through the actions of the people involved. The last sentence is poor because it is telling rather than showing, and it has a surprise "not" which makes the whole thing a non-description of stuff that isn't happening.



> “So, we keepin’ tied up now? Don’t love the silence meself.”

The mixture of potential slang with a heavy accent makes this sentence unintelligible. Whilst the accent is consistent, I think it is too hamfisted usage throughout the piece. Try dropping the apostrophes to see if the accent can still be discerned, rather than throwing them on every word. The reader will probably read "Don't love the silence myself" in the same tone as "Don't love the reader meself," because the key word is starting the sentence with "don't."

>So many unfamiliar sights and flora came into view as we traveled that I had become lost in simple observation.

This doesn't fit with a plain description, and it is implied.

>He responded. He maintained an amused grin about him as he spoke.

He responded is implied, and the second sentence can be implied from the tone of the sentence. Cut the whole thing and watch out for excessive description on speech.

> As the goblin spoke, I strained as my fingers flipped through the various books in my bag. My notebook had to be amongst these somewhere. Were fairies more reliant on their wings for flight I would have had an even rougher time of this. Arlet looked towards me shortly after starting off again and paused upon seeing my predicament.

The first sentence is clunky, and I had to read it a few times to get a vague idea of what was going on. The second sentence can be completely cut. The third needs a ", then" before "I" to make it less tricky -- however the description doesn't do anything in itself. Are the fairies flying with the bags? The first clause in the last sentence is unnecessary, because it is implied that he started again if he had to pause.

>The belittlement was less than appreciated. My strain now coupled with the heat of irritation and grew significantly worse as a result.

This is a prime example of showing rather than telling, and I'll give a rough example on how to get more out of your sentences.

>I struggled with the massive bag of books that teetered back and forth as the Goblin sniggered, "you got it master?"
I gnashed my teeth together as sweat poured down my face and aggravated my eyes.

My rework isn't super great, but it gives a rough idea of what the concept is. If the characters are pouring down sweat, then it can be assumed that it is blazing hot outside. I growled is a basic description of an anger emote (I highly recommend using The Emotions Thesaurus when struggling to find an emotive action that shows an emotion).

ebook.

I'd suggest looking at the emotion atlas.

https://www.amazon.com/Emotion-Thesaurus-Writers-Character-Expression-ebook/dp/B00822WM2M

Overall, I'm quite impressed with this.

I agree that you could use a bit of help with conveying emotion, but so could most writers, to be perfectly honest (I include myself in that camp). A good tip is to evoke emotion by describing the outward (physical) and inward (mental) expressions of it. For example, instead of saying "Robert seemed more relaxed and focused than before," describe what makes Robert seem more relaxed and focused: "Robert's restless fidgeting had subsided, and he was leaning back in his chair."

Everyone expresses emotions differently, so it's good to decide ahead of time how each character expresses anxiety, happiness, anger, or whatever feelings you expect them to have over the course of your story.

I quite like The Emotion Thesaurus as a reference for this type of thing, but be careful not to rely on another writer's ideas of expression too heavily. As long as you can use a reference like this as a starting point, rather than a crutch, you're in good shape.

My other general comment: don't be afraid of adding a bit more colourful description. You're somewhat like me, in that dialogue is clearly your strength, but you're a bit intimidated by descriptive text. You don't have to describe every feature in the room, or every single movement a character makes. The trick is to add a little bit here and there to break up the dialogue; right now I feel a bit like I'm reading a courtroom transcript instead of a work of creative fiction. The good news is that you're already good at bits of description (case in point: the line about the steam and smell of the tea is perfect). You just need to employ it a teeny bit more.

The Critical Reader, 3rd Edition: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0997517875

​

If you want, you can also get her Grammar one as well, she is just as good in Writing as she is in Reading: https://www.amazon.com/4th-Ultimate-Guide-SAT-Grammar/dp/0997517867/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2/132-1800003-9892148?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0997517867&pd_rd_r=704ad00b-9cdc-11e9-8f2e-7b657eb7b6fa&pd_rd_w=p9yLW&pd_rd_wg=S9kup&pf_rd_p=a2006322-0bc0-4db9-a08e-d168c18ce6f0&pf_rd_r=D1AEY435E7KTTF4HRTBA&psc=1&refRID=D1AEY435E7KTTF4HRTBA

https://www.amazon.com/4th-Ultimate-Guide-SAT-Grammar/dp/0997517867/

4th Edition, The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar https://www.amazon.com/dp/0997517867/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_2g7SDbCADK738

The Critical Reader, 3rd Edition: The Complete Guide to SAT Reading https://www.amazon.com/dp/0997517875/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_uh7SDb4SK8C3G

These are some rather expensive books but they really do work. Good luck!

The Critical Reader, 3rd Edition: The Complete Guide to SAT Reading by Erica L. Meltzer and if needed,


4th Edition, The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar by Erica L. Meltzer

https://www.amazon.com/Critical-Reader-3rd-Complete-Reading/dp/0997517875/

Erica Meltzer's The Complete Guide to SAT Reading
Link to amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Critical-Reader-3rd-Complete-Reading/dp/0997517875

https://www.amazon.com/Critical-Reader-3rd-Complete-Reading/dp/0997517875/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=meltzer&qid=1571322174&sr=8-1

my top recommendation would be this book: https://www.amazon.com/Critical-Reader-3rd-Complete-Reading/dp/0997517875/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520783812&sr=8-1&keywords=erica+meltzer

Here is Erica Meltzer's chapter about colons and dashes from her book The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar. I would definitely recommend the book, it does an awesome job of easily explaining every type of question you might see on the test.

Im reading this one https://www.amazon.com/3rd-Ultimate-Guide-SAT-Grammar/dp/1511944137

https://www.amazon.com/3rd-Ultimate-Guide-SAT-Grammar/dp/1511944137/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1500189095&sr=8-2&keywords=erika+meltzer+sat

I used this book: https://www.amazon.com/Math-Lessons-Improve-Score-Month/dp/1519617372/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8


These Erika Metzler books: https://www.amazon.com/3rd-Ultimate-Guide-SAT-Grammar/dp/1511944137/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1500323642&sr=1-2&keywords=erika+meltzer+sat

https://www.amazon.com/Critical-Reader-2nd-Erica-Meltzer/dp/1515182061/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1500323642&sr=1-1&keywords=erika+meltzer+sat

Bite the bullet, and learn your grammar rules. When the questions get hard, everything “sounds” bad. And if you’re really reading every answer choice for “sound,” you’re taking too long. You need to eliminate answer choices according to grammar rules. For our GMAT students who have really struggled with SC - and many had exhausted the resources already suggested - we’ve recommended this SAT book with much success:

3rd Edition, The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar https://www.amazon.com/dp/1511944137/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_OejPAb9MEZ08Z

Disclaimers: We don’t get any kickbacks for recommending this. It is an SAT book, and the GMAT SC is obviously more difficult. But, the author gives - hands down - the most detailed, yet succinct plain language treatment of English grammar from a standardized test prep point of view. Buy an old, used edition. Work through it. Apply those principles to Official Guide and practice exam questions you got right and wrong. Worst case, you’ll be out a few bucks. But, it certainly will not hurt.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1511944137/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1506792925&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=erica+meltzer+grammar&dpPl=1&dpID=514ZbvAwFxL&ref=plSrch

(from another thread) Note that canada is not different from america, since they are on the same continent.

Who got bailed out in 2008? Was it ... the capitalists????? Think about that, there was endless money to be spent when billionaires and banks gambled and lost. But when we need money for infrastructure and education, somehow we are given lines and bullshit that "we can't afford it"? Where's the missing trillions?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVjz1OyBJCc

More sites on the distribution of wealth and power in North america (since Us and canada's economy are basically one and the same).

The distribution of power in america:

http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/images/wealth/Net_worth_and_financial_wealth.gif

http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html

Go do some reading and get educated

http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Illusion-Literacy-Triumph-Spectacle/dp/1568586132/.

Here's some more:

http://www.straight.com/life/chris-hedges-harper-venal-us-politics-totally-rigged

http://www.amazon.com/Manufacturing-Consent-Political-Economy-Media

Google: Chris hedges

Richard wolf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF2g26mTV7w

The Long Emergency - James Howard Kunstler

Empire Of Illusion - Chris Hedges

The Collapse of Complex Societies - Joseph Tainter

The End Of Growth - Richard Heinberg

a chapter in chris hedges book empire of illusion is about the porn industry. It made me feel so guilty for taking pleasure in that shit.

> Or they're bad at it.

from my perspective, doctor peterson is not particularly good at challenging the commisars; it is a testament to how far fallen we are as a society that "men and women are, on the whole, similar but different," "gender ideology is bonkers," and "Christianity actually has some wisdom to impart" are considered controversial, heroic positions to adopt in the public sphere

i was not impressed with doctor peterson's recent bob-and-weave routine when he was asked give his thoughts on the bolsheviks, the holodomor, and ethnic/religious/cultural warfare; his eventual concession that he "[couldn't] do it" was admirable in its honesty, though not in its display of intellectual courage

> However, I was more lamenting are inability to have a certain reach even if we are brilliant.

i am reminded of two things:

this

and

this

> Even the townhall, while I'm glad it happened, was staged like it was a WWE event.

Hahaha I read a book about that in college. Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle. Hahaha ^^oh ^^no

> Yeah, it's counter-intuitive. Why would you go against consumers this way?

You're not seeing the larger picture.... this isn't about consumers, this is about control of world markets. You're missing the larger historical context, the NSA is all about control and management of information for corporate profits.

Most have no clue what's really going on in the world... the elites are afraid of political awakening.

This (mass surveillance) by the NSA and abuse by law enforcement is just more part and parcel of state suppression of dissent against corporate interests. They're worried that the more people are going to wake up and corporate centers like the US and canada may be among those who also awaken. See this vid with Zbigniew Brzezinski, former United States National Security Advisor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ttv6n7PFniY

Science on reasoning, reason doesn't work the way we thought it did:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYmi0DLzBdQ

Brezinski at a press conference

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kmUS--QCYY

The real news:

http://therealnews.com/t2/

http://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Incorporated-Managed-Inverted-Totalitarianism/dp/069114589X/

http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Government-Surveillance-Security-Single-Superpower/dp/1608463656/r

http://www.amazon.com/National-Security-Government-Michael-Glennon/dp/0190206446/

Look at the following graphs:

IMGUR link - http://imgur.com/a/FShfb

http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html

And then...

WIKILEAKS: U.S. Fought To Lower Minimum Wage In Haiti So Hanes And Levis Would Stay Cheap

http://www.businessinsider.com/wikileaks-haiti-minimum-wage-the-nation-2011-6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnkNKipiiiM

Free markets?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHj2GaPuEhY#t=349

http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Illusion-Literacy-Triumph-Spectacle/dp/1568586132/

"We now live in two Americas. One—now the minority—functions in a print-based, literate world that can cope with complexity and can separate illusion from truth. The other—the majority—is retreating from a reality-based world into one of false certainty and magic. To this majority—which crosses social class lines, though the poor are overwhelmingly affected—presidential debate and political rhetoric is pitched at a sixth-grade reading level. In this “other America,” serious film and theater, as well as newspapers and books, are being pushed to the margins of society.

In the tradition of Christopher Lasch’s The Culture of Narcissism and Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death, Pulitzer Prize-winner Chris Hedges navigates this culture—attending WWF contests, the Adult Video News Awards in Las Vegas, and Ivy League graduation ceremonies—to expose an age of terrifying decline and heightened self-delusion."

Important history:

http://williamblum.org/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcA1v2n7WW4

You should just read this book. It's extremely easy and still very useful, and written by the best philosopher of maths currently alive.

It might be helpful to read an introductory text first. My first philosophy of math course used Stewart Shapiro's [Thinking about mathematics] (http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-about-Mathematics-The-Philosophy/dp/0192893068/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341687670&sr=8-1&keywords=stewart+shapiro) as a supplementary text. I didn't use it too much, but it is pretty good and quite approachable from what I recall. Shapiro is a very well regarded contemporary philosopher of mathematics.

You could also start with the [SEP article] (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/philosophy-mathematics/). This will give you an overview of the area, its history, and the various sub-disciplines. That can help you narrow down what in particularly you are interested in which will make it easier for you to find appropriate books.

I'm currently reading http://www.amazon.ca/Thinking-about-Mathematics-The-Philosophy/dp/0192893068 where these sorts of questions about the nature of mathematics are nicely outlined.

I too think that the approach offered is creative, but I don't understand argument tbh. Perhaps he will offer a more basic ontology of mathematics at a future point that will situate his argument within the larger reflections on the nature of math.

I'm also worried that Meillassoux has set up a bit of a straw man argument wrt to the arche-fossil and "correlationism." This is not how I read Kant's transcendental idealism, but I'm unsure at the moment.

Personal note: when I read about SR I went to SEP to try and learn more to see if it was worth pursuing in greater depth, but there were no entries for any of the figures associated with this line of thinking. This concerns me as I can't quite situate SR within a larger philosophical history.

I think you are unwisely dismissive of the chronological route.

Placing abstract and difficult ideas in historical context and threading a narrative is a great way to make those ideas more concrete and engaging.

A psychological sense of the historical roots of ones culture is also a fantastic bulwark against feelings of arbitrariness and absurdity of modern life.

I think any discipline, whether philosophy, mathematics, science, engineering or art is only enriched by the chronological approach. History is important and wonderful and learning the history of the development, evolution and progress of culture is a great counterpoint to learning history as one damned atrocity after another.

A book like Kenny's A New History of Western Philosophy is big and dense, but not impossible to "conquer". It took me about 6 months to finish. That required a bit of commitment on my part, yes, but don't assume OP is a slacker that can't even commit to such a elementary project as reading through a slightly long book.

There are shorter less dense historical introductions to philosophy too.

I think it's not the best for this particular goal. The section "general introductions" contains a lot of books that are mostly appetizers. If you have already decided to study systematically to build a solid foundation you can downright skip these.

All the books of the other sections are either classics in their own right (therefore, you will study the meat of them in your study of the history of philosophy, and you will do so in the context of what they were replying to, what kind of assumptions they made etc.) or famous but not essential books that have been chosen according to the tastes of the author of the list (therefore you don't need them for foundations; you can always choose to include them in your list if you decide they are valuable in their own right).

So I say skip all the list for now. A much better and much faster way would be to read Anthony Kenny's history of philosophy. If you work through it making sure you understand all the arguments, your focus, thinking, and comprehension skills will already be at another level.

After that, you can start grappling with the Critique of pure reason. Be warned that most of the "introductions", "guides", "explanations" and "companions" to the CPR are actually investigations of obscure points that manage to be harder to read than the actual CPR. The best two books that I found that are actually introductory guides to CPR are this and this.

Despite the titles, they are not "Kant for dummies". They are actually dense expositions which require concentration, familiarity with terms used in philosophy, and knowledge of what came before Kant (both offer a quick overview, but if you don't already know what it's talking about it will just leave you dizzy). Of course, if you have already done step 1, this will be a breeze for you.

I suggest you read both before opening the real CPR, but if you only have patience/time for one: Rosenberg is more one-sided, more focused on certain aspects, and somewhat less clear on some points, but he will really get you excited on what the CPR can mean - it will become a great adventure that could possibly transform your whole understanding of yourself and the universe. Gardner is less exciting, but he is so clear, so exhaustive in predicting what kind of doubt can arise for the reader and in presenting the different interpretations, that it is scary.

> How is defending our own norms and values bigoted?

What you consider "white people" norms and values, aren't "white people" norms and values. You think they are because you are uneducated and you dont know how people come to believe/value what they do or what creates "culture" or the values you claim to extol. When you learn the answer to these questions you will then realize how you are currently uneducated and hold values are backwards and contradict the ACTUAL values/norms of western civilization which are enlightenment values.

These things aren't your "heritage". What you refer to as this are really just a form of antiquated Christian traditionalism that contradict western values. If you actually want to know the great history of western values and realize the actual legacy of white people(if you insist on racializing such a thing), I recommend you read Anthony Kenny's "The History of Western Philosophy". Below is the Amazon link and below that is part one.

https://www.amazon.com/New-History-Western-Philosophy/dp/0199656495

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.bibotu.com/books/2015/A%2520New%2520History%2520of%2520Western%2520Philosophy%2520-%2520Vol%25201.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwi63e3r5a_eAhVlRN8KHWo_CM0QFjAAegQIAhAB&usg=AOvVaw29a-DaxnCVryAbRYj2FGL9

You can find pdfs of parts 2, 3, and 4 online for free by Googling the name of the book and pdf.

When you learn the history of ethics, Christianity, political philosophy, and knowledge you will learn the actual legacy of western civilization and realize it has nothing to do with race, even though the philosophers who have advanced all the things I mentioned in the western world were generally white due to their privileged status in western civilization over the span of 2000+ years(a fact you want to blindly dismiss or are offended by for some odd reason).

I hope you will take this comment seriously, resist your temptation to confirmation bias your views and resist your temptation to look away and look into this book I recommended. This book I recommended will unequivocally change your mind and literally teach you how to think accurately, as that is the true subject of it. A detailed history of philosophy that shows its gradual development and advancement.

I will be happy to elaborate on any questions you may have.

u/JoeNiw, u/Belongs_To_The_Nords, u/Al_Shakir, u/HagridTheSoviet, u/Porphyrogennetos

https://www.reddit.com/r/Economics/wiki/reading

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskEconomics/comments/5y49nz/as_a_hs_sophomore_i_would_like_to_venture_into/den54ll/

https://www.amazon.com/Law-Legislation-Liberty-statement-principles/dp/0415522293/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

https://www.amazon.com/Road-Serfdom-Documents-Definitive-Collected/dp/0226320553/ref=la_B000AQ6W60_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1503059047&sr=1-1

https://www.amazon.com/Anarchy-State-Utopia-Robert-Nozick/dp/0465051006/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1503059077&sr=1-1&keywords=nozick

https://www.amazon.com/Contemporary-Political-Philosophy-Will-Kymlicka/dp/0198782748/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1503059099&sr=1-4&keywords=contemporary+political

https://www.amazon.com/New-History-Western-Philosophy/dp/0199656495/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1503059282&sr=1-1&keywords=new+history+of+philosophy

http://econlog.econlib.org/

http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/

Perhaps you could start with a historical overview like this one?

If you wrote like a human who had more than a 3rd grade education people wouldn't have to assume what you were saying. I'm sorry you're not able to articulate your thoughts into speech or text.

I think everyone is aware that it's a fucking movie. You said Ohio reformatory wasn't a real place, then you said prison life isn't like it is portrayed in a movie which is fairly obvious.

Here this should help you

Does your mom know you are up past your bedtime? No dessert for a week young man!

But seriously, considering saving your allowance and investing in this book. You sorely need it.

https://www.amazon.com/English-Grammar-Dummies-Geraldine-Woods/dp/0470546646

I have something for you too.

this is more in my price range

Considering that you apparently already have some fluency, and assuming: British English, and that you are "merely" trying to incrementally improve; the following may be of use:

http://www.amazon.com/English-Grammar-Dummies-Geraldine-Woods/dp/0470546646
http://www.amazon.com.au/Learning-Grammar-Punctuation-Collins-English-ebook/dp/B005IH026C
http://www.amazon.com/A-Students-Introduction-English-Grammar/dp/0521612888
http://www.amazon.com/Comprehensive-Grammar-English-Language-General/dp/0582517346

Ummm...what? Good try, but once again you are incorrect.

 

First of all.

>That year was in the past. It has passed us by.

This statement itself is correct, but the context is completely different from your original post, so we will ignore it.

 

Now for your mistake.

>This passed season was OK

You are not saying that the season did pass (verb) and it was OK, you are describing the season which is in the past (we'll call this one an adjective) and that it was OK.

One helpful trick could be to think about this sentence using the other tenses. This future season will be OK. This present season is OK. The tenses of past, present, and future are clarifying the noun which in this case is "season".

 

It's one thing to be a dick to someone who is trying to help you improve your grammar. It's another thing to completely ignore it while being so fucking condescending.

There are many websites which explain the difference of past vs. passed far better than the one you provided. If you need further reading, I suggest this book.

If you're referring to my lattermost statement, welcome to reddit big guy, maybe brush up on your grammar a bit before you get too deep because that tends to be a point of contention on this website.


I guess my point with my original reply was that his comment added literally nothing of substance. There was no straw man! hahaha idk if he took philosophy or something as a freshman and stored a few cool words deep in that clearly eloquent lexicon, but the first post pointing out that he knew an SAE who was a great guy is in NO WAY A STRAW MAN!!!!! This is all induction! They are fucking stereotypes and inductive reasoning can be easily disproven through counterexamples!!!!


I should post this to r/rant, cause seriously this is the reddit circlejerkery that is the only part of this amazing website that kills me. BilyBlaze makes a statement that holds no water whatsoever, but because reddit is 90% insecure pussies who have some beef with greek life, it gets upvotes out the ass. classic!

and finally, i know i already asked, but to what fucking school does this kid go?

" People get raped at the SAE chapter at my school all the time"
back that up a bit. most 'rapes' get reported so you should have some statistics to back up that ridiculous bull shit. or were they unreported? did you happen to be the guy in whom all these poor victims confided? that's how you know?



EDIT and obviously I was asking about his school originally because of the regular rapings. not because of his poor grammar, but now that I've properly considered it, I need to know for both reasons.

Here

Ok here are a few ideas.

I would suggest this Yale course on Literary Theory as a good introduction from the humanities angle.

The major focus of literary analysis these days usually seems to be some variant of "close reading"

For a general overview of linguistics the wiki page is pretty decent. Martin Hilpert's Introductory Linguistics and Congnitive Linguistics courses on youtube are pretty good.

I don't know how much or what type of grammar is covered in an English degree but I would pick up a book on syntax such as:

Carnie - Syntax

A more traditional take:

Traditional Diagramming

Alerternatively, you can find a free book on Syntax here

Being able to parse a sentence into it's constituent pieces is useful for analysis. After that, major fields to look into are:

• Semiotics
  
• Cognitive Linguistics
  
• Stylistics
  
• Rhetoric
  
  Some books and resources that fall under these catagories in general (I haven't read all of these):
  
  
• Metaphors We Live By
  
• Stylistics: A Resource Book for Students
  
• Exploring the Language of Poems, Plays and Prose
  
• Rhetorical Style
  
• Silva Rhetoricae
  
• Rhetoric Timeline
  
• Recommended Rhetoric Resources
  
• Figures of Speech
  
• Literal and Figurative Language
  
  And because we are learning about English, here is a cheesy documentary that's actually pretty decent.
  
  EDIT: Here is the reddit Linguistics wiki for reference.

I was thinking this book might be better

Is this a message to your camp counselor, your opinion on the experience, or what?

I'm confused as to how your title, first paragraph, and the body of the content have any correlation whatsoever. The title gives me a premise that allows me to presume that this is a copypasta'd correspondence with your counselor from Bible Camp. Your first paragraph is what throws me through a loop.

I'm going to assume that this is, in fact, a letter to your counselor. In that respect, your sentiment fits well at r/atheism. Enjoy circle-jerking with the rest of us and I hope you continue educating yourself on matters that are important.

here try this

By Guy Deutscher. Amazon link for the lazy. Ten bucks for Kindle.

This is one of the most informative and entertaining books I have ever read. It discusses how language has changed and keeps changing, and how the so-called "degradation" of language is actually what's responsible for its amazing complexity.

Yep, that's definitely true. This, incidentally, is what Heisig set out to do with Remembering the Kanji, to give an English speaker the same advantage in Japanese as a Chinese speaker (that is, know how to write each kanji and a rough approximation to its meaning).

> My knowledge of kanji is laughable at best.

Heisig's Remembering the Kanji has a very novel approach to learning the kanji, although It's not for everyone. The problem for me was that I was both being too lazy, but also that it works best with English as your primary language.

As for vocabulary training I'm not sure.

I like RTK. Some people have problems with it, but it worked for me. Also using anki with a kanji deck is very helpful.

Depends on what method of learning you subscribe to. The book you suggest is fine, and the Genki books are fine for the standard way of learning.

Learning Kana is easy...actually easier than English as there is no guessing, there is only one way to pernounce "ichi" as written in kana. The problem is Kanji, and oh what a problem it is.

I did not succeed as to learn any language takes a good amount of effort that you are willing to put in but here is a method I subscribe to. Using this book you would learn how to read Japanese using Kanji the quickest. The thing is, that what you are learning in this book isn't actually how to read, but more how to reckognize each kanji symbol. The idea is that once you learn how to recognize each Kanji, it will be 100x easier to put words to it. This book falls into the method that this guy http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/ follows. Which while crazy, I can see being effective.

Japanese is hard fyi

People on reddit seriously need to read this short book Rulebook for Arguments

It takes like a few hours to read and would inform soo many people on how to make an argument and identify bad ones.

I usually keep everything "in-house" in my courses, but some professors that I respect use this book in their classes: A Rulebook for Arguments.

However, this is for argumentation. I'm not sure if Anthony Weston has written any books about reading philosophy.

This is what you are looking for. It's short, cheap, clear, and handy.

Anthony Weston, A Rulebook for Arguments

>Linking to relevant books is much more helpful than willful ignorance.

So if I link to a bunch of books peripherally related to a topic at hand, and you refuse to read them, does that make you willfully ignorant?

>You asked the question, and if you are actually interested in hearing thoughtful responses to it, you might want to consider picking up a book about it.

His books do not begin to answer the question of the OP.

>If you've been on reddit for any amount of time you surely know that it's a terrible forum for meaningful debate.


Then, by your own admission, you are here for meaningless debate.

>The issues you raised cannot be settled by a few short comments.

I disagree.

Read the following books about debate before you respond. Otherwise, I will have to assume you are willfully ignorant.

http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Debating-Leverett-Samuel-Lyon/dp/B003VQRXDC/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376830361&sr=1-2&keywords=debate

http://www.amazon.com/Competitive-Debate-Ph-D-Richard-Edwards/dp/1592576931/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376830385&sr=1-3&keywords=debate

http://www.amazon.com/Rulebook-Arguments-Anthony-Weston/dp/0872209547/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376830385&sr=1-4&keywords=debate

You need to work on your debate/argument basics. Fallacies everywhere!

I recommend this book or this.

lol you cant formulate a logical reply so you go on the offensive with belittling remarks. That's Intellectually-dishonest debate tactic 101 which clearly subverts your effort when its recognized and lets the opposing conversationalist know you can't back up your side and that they won the argument. May I recommended some light reading on the art of debating, I think you will find it immensely helpful if you plan on continuing to post here.

https://www.amazon.com/Rulebook-Arguments-Hackett-Student-Handbooks/dp/0872209547

> Like I said before, it was a smartass response that you're reading too far into.

Like I said before, it was a very basic inference. You're looking way too much into what I was saying.

> Saying "a mix of both idiots and intellegent people who are idiotic" rather than "idiots" doesn't have the same ring to it.

You're reading your own use of the word into his statement. Maybe that is what he meant, but that's not what the logic of his statement said, which is why I was asking him about it.

Here are a couple texts that I think you would benefit from.

• Numbah 1
  
• Numbah 2
  
  The first one is really solid, but it's expensive. The second one isn't as robust, but it gets the job done, and it's significantly cheaper.
  
  > i'm out.
  
  Cheers :)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/088062082X/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=37M87UPGUSQTK&coliid=I1BBWS42WUN7GY

I have this book on my wishlist because I thought it was a cool little book. Perhaps your boyfriend would be into it too!

Theory book.

[Spencerian Theory](Spencerian Penmanship (Theory Book) https://www.amazon.com/dp/088062082X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_6hBlyb1BTWS0E), they also sell copy books for practice, if you want to pick those up also.

We did the exact same thing with our left-handed son (likewise as recommended by The Well Trained Mind). He's 5, and his penmanship is remarkably good. He was coached on the strokes for each glyph one at a time, but we let him figure out how he was most comfortable drawing them. My wife and I are both right-handed, so we can't really "guide" his hand, but we can go through the motions with him.

Last year, he also practiced writing his letters daily, with the help of a guide that he could reference if necessary - his penmanship is quite good for a 5-year-old, I think, though that might just be my bias talking. :)

Cursive is an interesting additional question. It's a dying skill in the age of computer communication, but I think we'd still like to teach it. I was taught Specerian cursive via copybooks like these. I dunno if we'll use that or something else, though.

Cool, I'll give that a shot, thanks! I tried using the practice books that came with my little 'Learn Spencerian' packet but the ink was way too heavy and bled through the pages like crazy.

I just bought some basic Spencerian copy books off of Amazon, along with some pilot varsity fountain pens. I think it was less than $25. So far I am really enjoying it!

I've been thinking learning it with someone else would be awesome, to try to stay accountable on practicing. Interested?

Edit: The books and the pens if anyone is interested.

no problem!

Thanks, I appreciate it. I think it is true that no one ever really likes their own writing because I think mine is horrific. I was in that last generation that they still taught cursive in school, so it is a mix of the garbage school guidance and Spencerian theory. I wish I could go back in time and learn the write way when I was 8 vs working on it now.

Spencerian Penmanship (Theory Book plus five copybooks) https://www.amazon.com/dp/088062096X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_csmSBbBJ4XAE7

Not OP, but (from what I've seen) the definitive resource for Spencerian handwriting is the original books by Spencer himself. They're what I'm using, and by the sounds of it, what OP used too.

Thanks! For the Spencerian, I'm using the set published by Mott Media - a theory book with a set of workbooks. It's good, although I think it would be better used as a supplement to lessons with an actual person.

As for Uncial, I cobbled that together from a lot of resources. Part of it was just stumbling my way through scripts until someone here said, "It looks like you might be trying to do Uncial." I used a few of the resources in the Wiki as well, and they were very helpful.

Yeah, here are some links to IAMPETH: 1 2

2 is a collection of Spencerian examples by master penmen and the first are a few practice sheets. There are also a few books you can get through Amazon (or possibly locally depending your location). 1 2

I would recommend the latter, but it is often expensive/unobtainable. The guides online can help a lot too, though I recommend you print off the sheets and trace the letterforms for a while to get them down.

Amazon has them too!

Edit: This is the link you want

I'm learning Spencerian, and I got a set of practice books that have helped a lot. I'm only like 2/3 of the way through the first of 5, but I'm starting to break away from it and just learn what I need as I need it. The beginning, though, was extremely beneficial. The pages are full of practice lines with everything divided up an spaced for perfect letters. In the first book, for example, the boxes are generally the exact size where the upstroke to start writing a lowercase i takes you from bottom left corner up to the opposite corner in the top right. It's very helpful for getting down the length and the slant, especially since they're core components of the script that apply to pretty much all the letters. It also talks about how certain types of lines in the script are supposed to be made, which again helps with consistency in your writing.

This looks like the one I have, but you might be able to find practice sheets of the appropriate grid size free online, as well as theory. The theory book and 5 practice books are also available separately if you only want one or the other.

I have this book: English Grammar for students of German. It compares English and German in lots of areas of grammar in easy terms. I find it pretty helpful.

Also you could probably find a better price for the book but I just linked a better description.

If what you want to achieve is A1 and nothing beyond, you best bet would be getting one of the many course books:

• Schritte (http://www.amazon.com/dp/3190018510/). You may simply ignore the 1 stars review as they're irrelevant.
  
• Lagune (http://www.amazon.de/dp/3190016240/) and a lot more others. Actually it doesn't really matter which one you pick. Any one of them is sufficient.
  
  A arguably better alternative would be the free online course offered by Deutsche Welle (http://deutschkurse.dw.de/KursPlattform/WebObjects/KursPlattform.woa/wo/6.1). Do register and try it. Really valuable resource. Together with Deutsch – warum nicht? (http://www.dw.de/deutsch-lernen/deutsch-warum-nicht/s-2163) you can go far. (In case you didn't realise already, both the sound files and pdf notes can be found on the right, featuring four series.)
  
  Maybe the only problem you would encounter is speaking. The speaking test is actually like this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGNd-6pDkEI), and you may panic if you don't already speak in German for a several hours. Try to find someone who speaks German and wants to do a language exchange with you. (http://www.language-exchanges.org/) is one of them. You may as well find one on Reddit.
  
  By the way, if you really want to have a strong command of German sooner or later, there are some good, though popular (popular doesn't always mean bad) books for foundation, apart from your already awesome German for Reading:
  
  
• German: How to Speak and Write It (http://www.amazon.com/dp/9650060359/)
  
• The Everything Learning German Book (http://www.amazon.com/dp/159869989X/)
  
  If you insist on getting a grammar book, a nice start would be:
  
  
• Essential German Grammar (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0340741899/)
  
• English Grammar for Students of German (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0934034389/)
  
  And eventually you may want to take down the boss:
  
  
• Hammer's German Grammar and Usage (http://www.amazon.com/dp/1444120166/)
  
• Duden 04. Die Grammatik (http://www.amazon.de/dp/product/3411040483/)
  
  Finally I recommend you to take a look at my favourite reading material when I started, Studien und Plaudereien (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22160), freely offered by Project Gutenberg.

the books that I have are:

Hammer's German Grammar and Usage - it's a huge comprehensive in-depth look at everything grammatical, breaks everything down completely. good as a reference book but not really to go through and study

English Grammar for Students of German - it's a really brief overview comparing English grammar to German grammar with examples, but doesn't get really specific

Berlitz Self Teacher: German - some of the vocab is a little outdated but it's a cute concise book that's really good to carry on the subway or whatever and read in short spurts. there's special parts dedicated to helping you "think in german" which is important for fluency. it's a pretty good book for beginners I think.

I also have Barron's 501 German verbs but I actually haven't started looking through it yet.

and then if we add an audio section to this list is highly recommend Pimsleur's audio courses, though they're pricey so you may want to try and obtain them ahem another way.

Hammer's German and Usage

Hammer's German and Usage Workbook

German Grammar drills

Secondary grammar book

Personally, Hammer's Grammar book is quite enough. It is around 500 pages of dry grammar. It is very well constructed and very easy to understand, get it with workbook. It is logical, as it teaches you from the most essential and easiest structures. Nouns -> genders, -> cases, that way it is easier to learn.

Secondary Grammar book is not necessary.

Advice her to use Anki, its a very helpful tool i think for the most easiest words to learn. Especially it helps a lot with German genders.

I actually think this is a great book for German learners!

figure out what you're weaknesses are by taking practice tests and target those. here are my book recommendations:

​

Math: Dr. Chung's SAT Math

English: Erica Meltzer's Grammar Book

Reading: Powerscore Reading Bible

​

Also, I feel like if you're prepping for the PSAT you might as well just take the SAT

https://www.amazon.com/English-Grammar-Dummies-Geraldine-Woods/dp/0470546646

I think you'll find this book most helpful.

OP your wording is very unclear.

LPT for OP: http://www.amazon.com/Syntax-Generative-Introduction-Andrew-Carnie/dp/0470655313/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1394207936&sr=8-3&keywords=syntax+and+grammar

Found the book review here
The one by Nikolai Krestinsky

You're also completely misrepresenting grammar and language. Try looking into the field of linguistics. Here's a couple book suggestions for you. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0140260234 And http://www.amazon.com/The-Unfolding-Language-Evolutionary-Invention/dp/0805080120/ref=la_B001JOASIU_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1342795681&sr=1-2

>There are two main problems with this point, the first is simply that saying "well what about this particular example?" doesn't affect the reality of the other, majority examples.

A counterexample is a case that does not fit the general conclusion. Providing a counterexample is a valid way to refute a person's argument. (p. 16-17 in "A Rulebook for Arguments").

>The second point is rather more semantic, in that many wouldn't describe zen buddhism as a religion at all. Since there is no real doctrine to follow etc.

Certainly if you define religion as doctrine then Zen is not a religion. But religion is not defined by having doctrine. A religion: (1) defines the human condition, (2) defines the Ultimate/Reality/Truth; (3) says there is a way to bridge the gap between the two; and (4) provides teachings and practices to bridge the gap.

>and especially not that similar to any religion as we know it, and as affects us on a daily basis.

Regardless of your familiarity with it, it's a religion, and if it doesn't fit your general statements about religion, you should limit those statements to religions that fit, e.g. theistic religions or faith-based religions.

What you currently have, and what Pilot Parallels are are called broad edged pens. Italic is a broad edged hand. Spencerian, on the other hand, is a pointed pen script. Although I don't do pointed pen hands, you need a pointed pen nib, and preferably an oblique holder, instead of what you currently have. See the wiki.

To learn Spencerian the IAMPETH website as well as the Spencerian Copybooks are recommended.

I'm not sure whether learning Italic first is recommended or not. Someone who is more knowledgeable with pointed pen scripts should speak up :)

It's a nice looking font. If you'd like to improve it, as others are saying, get a good stable fountain pen, and this, you won't regret it.

​

here you go. It even has free shipping!

I have read the Quran and I disagree with your assessments.

Here, this may help you.

> You were implying that I said "their" content referring to black people. I wasn't. The sarcastic sentence in all caps was making fun of your stupid racist joke.

Well I can see where your head's at. Maybe you should reflect on your own racist thoughts if that's the place you take that sentence.

Also, only $16 used. You really should pick one up.

Holy fucking shit I can't even believe this conversation just happened. Learn to fucking read, dipshit.

True, not sure the comment above me embodies that. Whataboutism is more difficult to identify since it's often easy to fall into as kneejerk reaction to any comparison, though it is very real and happens frequently.

OPs comment was just a classic no true scotsman and that needed to be pointed out.

I strongly recommend the little book of bad arguments.
An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments https://www.amazon.com/dp/1615192255/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_e.KZBb4XGNVP2

This should be at your grade level. It's got pictures too!

It’s okay, if you sound out the words r e a l s l o w you’ll eventually understand what I’m saying. I can’t help you with context though.

If you can’t understand how your first comment is a faulty presumption that I said anything about Yen being “morally greater”, and how my reply is simply highlighting how idiotically defensive you’re being a simple discussion — I can’t help you, maybe this can?, but at this point I doubt it.

http://www.amazon.com/Syntax-Generative-Introduction-Introducing-Linguistics/dp/0470655313
^If you'd like a really, really detailed explanation.

http://www.amazon.com/English-Grammar-Dummies-Geraldine-Woods/dp/0764553224

Well, first of all there's the question: What exactly makes the standard register (General American English if you're in America) the correct form? Who gets to decide that? I think we can both agree that it's an arbitrary standard that's just... a thing now. Now, I'm not at all saying standard english (or any standard language) doesn't have a place in the world, don't get me wrong here. It's, imo, very much important to have a standard for things like scientific papers or writing laws where it's important everyone interprets your things the same way. It's also, in our society, a (imo sad) truth that if you don't master the standard, you'll be regarded as stupid in some way. This is where I have a problem. Why? Let me elaborate:

As you grow up, you'll acquire the language of your peers. Children don't have any notion of standard languages, so if a kid grows up in a ghetto, they'll speak like the people surrounding them, even though in the higher classes there's a social stigma against speaking like the poor people. Does this make the child stupid? No, the kid did exactly what every human ever does when they learn their first language, imitate what's around them. And just because (on average) less educated people speak that way doesn't make the language any more complex either. For example, African American Vernacular English arguably has the most complex verb system of all modern Germanic languages (complex in this case meaning "makes the most distinctions explicitly") but is generally associated with the poorer social classes (and mostly black people) of america and thus stigmatized.

You mention that incorrectly pronouncing words is not a positive change. The question is then, how is the current status quo better than what the future holds? Let's make a practical example: Assume I started pronouncing t between two vowels like s. Water becomes waser, letter becomes leser. Are these new forms really objectively worse than the old ones? No, they're not. How could they be when the former were just as arbitrary as the latter? Also, as a note, that sound change I just illustrated happened in German many centuries ago, which is why Germans say Wasser with an s. So if you were to claim that people who were to undergo that change are stupid in some way, then you'd also be calling all Germans stupid.

Now onto the last point. Yes, I do completely embrace the chaos (it's a beautiful thing if you ask me, and very interesting to analyze). However I do realize that in our current societies, standardized languages have a place, and be it just so books have a somewhat uniform appearance. However, I see it so often that people get outright harassed for the way they speak and I find that absolutely unacceptable and on par with racism and classism for things that should just not exist in the world.

Sorry that took a bit to write out everything I wanted to say. If you want to learn some more about how language change actually works, I can wholeheartedly suggest the book The Unfolding of Language by Guy Deutscher (Amazon link). It's an easy read and a very nice introduction into linguistics, with a focus on language change.

Let me start by telling you to save yourself the trouble. Learning Japanese is a long hard road and once you get to the end you'll realize that the Anime or manga that spurred your desire to learn is actually juvenile and terrible. The economy here stinks and translation is one of the most boring, tedious jobs in existence. Furthermore, even after you achieve intermediate proficiency and can speak and understand a lot of Japanese, you'll realize that it doesn't matter because speaking Japanese requires being Japanese to a certain extent and you won't and can't ever be Japanese.

If that still doesn't persuade you to learn any other language, here are a few resources:

Reviewing the Kanji Forum - This is a site devoted to Heisig's Reviewing the Kanji which is a series of books devoted to learning the Kanji independently and then learning the readings later. I suggest you do this. It will take anywhere from 3 months to a year and you won't be able to read or write any Japanese at the end of it, but in my opinion, this foundation is of profound necessity. After you do this, acquiring vocabulary and understanding even complicated scientific terms in Japanese will be leaps and bounds easier.

Tae Kim's guide to basic Japanese grammar - This is a basic primer. Free and through. Study it and internalize it. It's no substitute for a class and instructors to drill you, but it's free and explains concepts in Japanese grammar in a way that will complement any classes you take and/or let you work at your own pace towards more complicated material.

Anki - Download Anki. It's a Spaced Repitition System (SRS) program. Make two decks. A sentences deck and a vocabulary deck. Whenever you learn a new word, put it into the vocab deck and put interesting sentences into the sentences deck. Finish your reviews every day. (Like braces, this is something that will be with you for the rest of your life, so learn to love it.) Time box your reviews to about 5 minutes at a time.

Kanji in Context - Start working through this series of books. I do something like 2 kanji a day in the vocabulary workbook, putting all the words into an Anki deck and obscuring the kanji I'm learning, such that the answer to the card is to write that kanji. This primarily enforces the readings I'm learning. Writing things increases your ability to dedicate them to memory. I put the sentences into the sentences deck. Prepare to get behind. Maybe you'll slag through it.

lang-8 - Once you've got some conversational Japanese under your belt, sign up at Lang-8 and write some or respond to other journal entries. Native speakers congregate here and will correct your Japanese, talk to you in Japanese, and generally have a conversation.

Buy or research ways to study for the JLPT and sign up for level 4. The goal is not passing this test (only level 1 and 2 really matter and even then, most people who get this certification are NEVER asked they took it) but simply setting a deadline. Level 5 (test changed this year) is crazy easy. Make this your goal. Even if you can't actually get to a testing site or don't have the money, convince yourself that you do and buy some JLPT study guides and work towards level X (again, probably 5). Once you feel confident you can pass level 5, start studying for level 4 and so on. Use the bi-annual deadlines to keep yourself studying. Watch Japanese stuff on Youtube, find a way to go to Japan and do all this in a native environment. Once you get to the end of the road, you'll probably end up discovering that it wasn't worth it.

My recommendation is to learn Mandarin if you're interested in learning an Asian language and something European if you're interested in History. (If you're interested in reading historic Japanese texts, good luck. You'll have to learn Japanese and then classic Japanese. (Most natives can't read pre-WWII newspapers easily or at all-- this is where you're headed.))

Well, that would be true if that's what I was saying, or even inferring, but since I meant those who actively choose to go there to do that, their death would be a great honor for us.

Here: https://www.amazon.com/Reading-Comprehension-Success-Minutes-Day/dp/1576854949/191-9218521-7640923?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0

What the fuck?

I acknowledged the nepotism angle in my last sentence.

This Link Might Help You

I noticed you use the appeal to hypocrisy also known as Tu quoque. Very smart move yet stupid move, in the future I would recommend not using it. I will recommend you a book called "An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments"

This book is written in a way an elementary student will understand it, hopefully it will help you with your critical thinking skills.

https://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Book-Bad-Arguments/dp/1615192255

<3

Can I recommend this program. It's pretty great.

http://www.harryhiker.com/lc/

And this book.

http://www.amazon.com/Rulebook-Arguments-Hackett-Student-Handbooks/dp/0872209547/ref=pd_sim_14_4?ie=UTF8&dpID=51zkr-cqNHL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR104%2C160_&refRID=0F6NT3RSWM0V9P6YXHSZ

forcing others to say it is. Also here is something you need to read before you try to make any sensible comment on reddit

I think you could also learn use this.

https://www.amazon.com/Reading-Comprehension-Success-Minutes-Day/dp/1576854949

Non-referral link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/English-Grammar-Dummies-UK-Edition/dp/0470057521

For my colonial cousins: http://www.amazon.com/English-Grammar-Dummies-Geraldine-Woods/dp/0470546646