Hyperbole and a Half

I'm so happy Allie Brosh has returned to updating her blog, it is seriously one of the funniest things I've ever read (although several of her most recent posts have been more serious - explaining her long absence).

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/

Buying a car

Tips from an ex-salesman: (Redditor jakfrist explains how to buy a car.)

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BEFORE YOU BUY

• Browse without a salesman first. Get an idea for what you want. Do you want a small car, an SUV, a truck? Two rows, three rows? Automatic, manual? What special features do you want? Knowing what you want is the first step to finding the car you need. Go to a few dealerships at night or on Sundays. If you want to go during the day simply telling the salesman you don't need help might not be enough to get rid of them, telling them you have a car in service for an oil change usually works.
• Read Reviews. Once you have an idea what you like, looking online for reviews helps you to narrow down the field.
• LOOK ONLINE! Almost all dealerships put very good prices on the internet. They know that if you are looking at their website you are probably also looking at the dealership down the road. They must be competitive online to get you in the door.
• LOOK ONLINE!!! This will give you a good price point to start figuring out what you can afford. Don't get sucked into a car you can't afford by a good salesman. Find the car you want at the price you want and stick to it.
• Take a good test drive. When you go on a test drive feel the car, listen to the car, pay attention to the car. That hum that the salesman says you won't notice over the radio will be getting on your nerves 6 months from now. That rattle and bump, it's going to be a problem. This is even more important on a used car. Use everything you see, hear, and feel later in your negotiations.
• Try to find a car without add-ons. That Jeep with a lift kit, the sports car with an aftermarket spoiler, the truck with the big tires. The dealership adds this things on to add on to the price. This just makes it even harder to figure out exactly how much the car costs the dealer. These accessories are marked up excessively, so either look for a car without them or negotiate the accessories separately. (It will almost always cost you less to get the accessories put on afterward)
• Don't let them nickel and dime you. That $22,000 Truck you saw online, well now it has pinstripes ($300). VIN etched into the glass ($800). Fabric stain protectant ($500). Rust undercoating protectant ($900) and a spray in bed-liner ($1500). Now your 22,000 Truck is $26,000. Just like the accessories these are much less expensive done after you leave the dealership (even if you come back to have them done). Thanks /u/IvanTheTerrific

Obamacare

Note: This is a repost of a post made by a user named CaspianX2 regarding Obamacare that I came across while researching the implications it would have for State taxes that I need to understand for my own job. I was really impressed by how well he explains things while staying unpartisan about it.

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What people call "Obamacare" is actually the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (abbreviated to PPACA or ACA). However, people were calling it "Obamacare" before everyone even hammered out what it would be. It's a term that was, at first, mostly used by people who didn't like the PPACA, and it's become popularized in part because PPACA is a really long and awkward name, even when you turn it into an acronym like that. Barack Obama has since said that he actually likes the term "Obamacare" because, he says, "I do care".

Anyway, the PPACA made a bunch of new rules regarding health care, with the purpose of making health care more affordable for everyone. Opponents of the PPACA, on the other hand, feel that the rules it makes take away too many freedoms and force people (both individuals and businesses) to do things they shouldn't have to.

So what does it do? Well, here is everything, in the order of when it goes into effect (because some of it happens later than other parts of it):

(Note: Page numbers listed in citations are the page numbers within the PDF, not the page numbers of the document itself)

Public Speaking

Commonplace Books

Source: http://thoughtcatalog.com/2013/how-and-why-to-keep-a-commonplace-book/

What is a Commonplace book?

A commonplace book is a central resource or depository for ideas, quotes, anecdotes, observations and information you come across during your life and didactic pursuits. The purpose of the book is to record and organize these gems for later use in your life, in your business, in your writing, speaking or whatever it is that you do.

 

Some of the greatest men and women in history have kept these books. Marcus Aurelius kept one–which more or less became the Meditations. Petrarch kept one. Montaigne, who invented the essay, kept a handwritten compilation of sayings, maxims and quotations from literature and history that he felt were important. His earliest essays were little more than compilations of these thoughts. Thomas Jefferson kept one. Napoleon kept one. HL Mencken, who did so much for the English language, as his biographer put it, “methodically filled notebooks with incidents, recording straps of dialog and slang” and favorite bits from newspaper columns he liked. Bill Gates keeps one.

 

Not only did all these famous and great individuals do it. But so have common people throughout history. Our true understanding of the Civil War, for example, is a result of the spread of cheap diaries and notebooks that soldiers could record their thoughts in. Art of Manliness recently did an amazing post about the history of pocket notebooks. Some people have gone as far as to claim that Pinterest is a modern iteration of the commonplace book.

 

And if you still need a why–I’ll let this quote from Seneca answer it (which I got from my own reading and notes):

 

“We should hunt out the helpful pieces of teaching and the spirited and noble-minded sayings which are capable of immediate practical application–not far far-fetched or archaic expressions or extravagant metaphors and figures of speech–and learn them so well that words become works.”

Donnie Darko Website

Recently I stumbled across a website for the movie Donnie Darko. When I first saw the he movie it made a big impact with me, it was amazing and bizarre and thought provoking. The website is much the same, although in different ways. Here it is... Donnie Darko website

Personality Types

For some reason I've always found the concept of "Personality Types" very interesting.

Of course like most people I grew up with the concept of Introvert and Extrovert as a way of explaining peoples preference towards social interaction.

In High School I came across The Color Code by Dr. Taylor Hartman. The Color Code divides personalities into four "colors"

• Red (motivated by power)
• Blue (motivated by intimacy)
• White (motivated by peace)
• Yellow (motivated by fun)

I'm a natural White but through experience have some shadings of Blue and even a little Red and Yellow depending on the situation I'm imagining myself in when I take the test (such as being out with friends).

You can learn more about the Color Code and to test to find your color type go to http://www.colorcode.com/

Care and feeding of your standard Introvert

  

Definition of introverts
via Wikipedia:

 

Introverts are people whose energy tends to expand through reflection and dwindle during interaction. They often take pleasure in solitary activities such as reading, writing, music, drawing, tinkering, playing video games, watching movies and plays, and using computers.  The archetypal artist, writer, sculptor, engineer, composer, and inventor are all highly introverted. An introvert is likely to enjoy time spent alone and find less reward in time spent with large groups of people. They prefer to concentrate on a single activity at a time and like to observe situations before they participate. Introverts are easily overwhelmed by too much stimulation from social gatherings and engagement. They are more analytical before speaking.
Introversion is not the same as being shy or being a social outcast. Introverts prefer solitary activities over social ones, whereas shy people (who may be extraverts at heart) avoid social encounters out of fear, and the social outcast has little choice in the matter of his or her solitude.

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Great list of myths about introverts 
via Carl King Creative:
 

Myth #1 – Introverts don’t like to talk.

The Ant and Corporate America

The Ant and Corporate America

A modern take on the classic fable "The Ant and the Grasshopper"

by Daniel Mitchell

The American Dream

The American Dream
by Iain Cheyne
https://sites.google.com/site/forgottenemployee/

PART ONE   An epiphany was had this morning as I perused SA, sipping Code Red and toying with the notion of stepping outside for my third cigarette in an hour: Nine years and 2 months of my life have been devoted towards the goal of personal advancement within a small yet thriving company. I arrived one spring morning at the offices of a local company - just a 15 year old, acne-encrusted, bespectacled face in the crowd - with a dot-matrix printed resume extolling my massive abilities with the 386 computer and willingness to work after school. I was immediately hired at minimum wage and began a series of menial jobs within said company, including authorizing credit cards, and serving as a squeaky-voiced telephone operator. At 16, I graduated from High School, and moved off to the wonderful world of college. Yet, for the sole reason of tuition re-imbursement, I continued with the same company - continuing to bounce around from department to department, serving as a van driver, a shipping and receiving inspector, an MIS administrator - I never stayed in one place for very long. It was during this time period, the wonderfully blurry undergraduate years, that I unknowingly sowed the seeds of my current employment bliss. The groundwork was laid.

Emergency Room

Ugh... spent 10 hours in the ER this morning.

For the past several weeks I've been having some mild discomfort in my chest. Then last night it got much worse. Unfortunately I'm not sure how sudden the onset was. I was absorbed in a computer game, sitting in the same position, for almost four hours when I suddenly realized my chest was really tight and achy and my right shoulder was sore. I figured it was from sitting hunched over a computer for so long and so took a hot shower that seemed to fix the shoulder pain but not the chest.

I had only had a couple of sticks of celery with peanut butter for lunch and this was a little after 8pm so I thought maybe it was some kind of heartburn or indigestion from lack of food; so I made and ate dinner (steak and salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing) and several Advil to see if that would make a difference. I decided to give it an hour to see if that helped and then would go into urgent care if it didn't.

Kindle Worlds

I had considered awhile back, that if I ever became a famous author, that I would like to do something different for fan fiction based on my books. Essentially my idea was that I would create a website where I would encourage people to write and post their fan fiction based on my fantasy world for others to read. The website would also allow others to rate the story on a scale from one to five on a variety of categories (plot, character development, pacing, etc) but NOT leave comments as; unfortunately the world of public internet comments tends to be rather harsh, juvenile, and unnecessarily cruel as you find if you scroll through the comments in Youtube and other sites where people can publicly post their materials. And finally, publishers that I’d worked with and trust could sign into the website and send messages to the authors, essentially using it as a tool to find prospective new talent.

 

So I was pleasantly surprised when I read in Forbes an article today that Amazon is doing something similar. Amazon is introducing ‘KindleWorlds’ which allows fans to write fan fiction in a variety of very popular fictional settings. Currently they already have TV franchises of Pretty Little Liars, The Vampire Diaries, and Gossip Girls available and they are working on including Harry Potter, Twilight, Star Wars, Star Trek, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I hope they also are able to use this to open up some of the older discontinued series like Firefly or the Sarah Connor Chronicles that have huge fan bases that were left unsatisfied by the abrupt cancelation of the show leaving so many things unresolved. It would also be amazing if Amazon could use their magic to acquire permission to write in worlds where the author is deceased such as Dune, Wheel of Time, and Lord of the Rings; although that would probably get very tricky with estates and such. Even better, what if they got into allowing fans to publish game scenarios for the World of Greyhawk, the Forgotten Realms, Eberron, or other RPG worlds.

 

The Amazon model also includes something mine did not… Profit. Normally if you self-publish through Amazon you get to keep 70% of any sales, although if you do it that way you also can’t write using a popular and well established world like Harry Potter without getting slapped for copyright infringement. But under the ‘Kindle Worlds’ model the fan fiction author keeps only 35% of sales for a novel (20% for shorter works) with the rest being split between Amazon and the owner the copyrights to the world. I think that potential revenue stream will make a lot of published writers interested in allowing and even encouraging others to write fan fiction.

 

I am a little worried about the lack of editorial collaboration and proof-reading that you get with actually published work and the fact that you have to buy the work sight unseen, so you don't know what the quality you are going to be getting. But hopefully Amazon will keep prices reasonably low and people who have already purchased and read the work will leave some useful ratings to guide those that follow behind. 

I could also see some issues with what I'll call reverse copyright infringement; in that the original author incorporates parts of 'Kindle Worlds' published fan fiction in their later works (for example, the writers of Pretty Little Liars might see a really good idea in a Pretty Little Liars fan fiction that 'inspires' some future episode they write). This could lead to some interesting legal issues about the copyright.

Overall I’m very interested to see ‘Kindle Worlds’ in action and perhaps you'll one day see some of my stuff there. I think its a very interesting new way for aspiring authors to cut their teeth as well, especially if they are already inspired by that fictional world and don't want or like to create a whole new fantasy world to develop of their own. For myself, I'm about 15% into a massive Star Trek technical manual that I was just doing for my own fun... perhaps now I have a new goal for it.

Book Recomendation: The Belgariad

The Belgariad
   By David Eddings

Book 1 - Pawn of Prophecy

Book 2 - Queen of Sorcery
Book 3 - Magician’s Gambit
Book 4 - Castle of Wizardry
Book 5 - Enchanter’s End Game

“The first thing the boy Garion remembered was the kitchen at Faldor’s farm. For all the rest of his life he had a special warm feeling for kitchens and those peculiar sounds and smells that seemed to somehow combine into a bustling seriousness that had to do with love and food and comfort and security and, above all, home.” – Pawn of Prophecy

Ever since I first picked up Pawn of Prophecy back in high school the Belgariad has been one of my favorite all time fantasy series. They are some of those books that I always keep in my library and pull out to reread time and time again. I even have the audio version, read by Cameron Beierle who is one of my favorite readers for Audible, and will often turn leave one on at night to listen to as I drift off to sleep, soothing my mind with a fun and familiar story.

The story follows Garion, a very young boy growing up on an isolated farm. Like most boys he dreams of adventures and excitement. But when the world is threatened by an ancient evil several of the adults in Garion’s life turn out not to be the commoner’s they had appeared but powerful sorcerers of legend and they must abandon their disguises and leave the farm to save the world. Young Garion finds himself inexplicably and suddenly wrenched from his quite life and pulled into a life of real adventure with a dire race across the world to prevent the awakening of a dark god bend on enslaving the world.  

Rereading the books now that I’m older I can, if I’m looking for it, notice problems with the writing style. Eddings tends to be a bit clichéd at times. But where his writing might suffer in technique he definitely makes up for it in two ways: First, he is excellent at characterizing things quickly and plugging them smoothly into the narrative in such a way that make you interested in that character. Second, there are a lot of ‘behinds the scenes’ world building that I find really fascinating – how different types of magic works, the pantheon of gods, the history of the world. Usually the book kind of just throws these things out quickly here and there were they are needed but I found them very fascinating.

The books themselves are not very complex but they are very entertaining and easy to read mixture of adventure, humor, and fantasy. The series was very popular in the 90s and remains so today so it is easy to find the books at any library or to buy inexpensive copies online (thank goodness, since I’ve had to replace mine a couple of times as I wear them out or give them to friends).

Book Recommendation: The Liaden Universe

This has become one of my all time favorite universes of books. I have to say universe rather than series because the reading order of the books is really up to you as most of them can be read independently of the others.

However, for the full experience I would recommend reading the novels in order of their internal chronology which would make it Balance of Trade, Local Custom, Scout’s Progress, Mouse and Dragon, Conflict of Honors, Agent of Change, Carpe Diem, Plan B, Fledgling, I Dare, Saltation, Ghost Ship, Necessity’s Child, Dragon Ship and Trade Secret. 

I intentionally left out Crystal Soldier and Crystal Dragon which are in many ways prequels to the whole universe of stories... those two novels deal with the story of the universe before, how it was destroyed, and how the survivors came to Liad, Terra, and the other worlds in the new Universe. I would recommend reading the two Crystal books sometime after Scout's Progress and before Fledgling.  

But those are just recommendations, the novels are pretty easy to ready in just about any order. The only warning I'd give about reading order is Crystal Soldier needs to be read before Crystal Dragon and Carpe Diem, Plan B, I Dare, Ghost Ship are serial as is Fledgling, Saltation, Ghost Ship, and Dragon Ship. Yes, Ghost Ship is in both series as the two storylines intermingle.

The stories are written by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller who do a wonderful job crafting intense plots, vivid backgrounds, and facinating characters.

I've only mentioned the novels in the universe but the Liaden Universe also has two or three dozen short stories as well. These are easy to get on Amazon for Kindle but woe be to anyone like me that wants to get them on paper... it gets down right expensive. Its a bit easier to collect them all in paper if you order the reprintings Ombibuses that gather bunches of them together: Liaden Universe Companion Volume One, Liaden Universe Companion Volume Two, Liaden Universe Constellation One, and Liaden Universe Constellation Two. (Hint: I have the final three of the four and if any of you REALLY love me and want to give me an impractically expensive gift, the Liaden Universe Companion Volumn One usually sell on E-bay or Amazon for about $200-300 dollars a copy - for a book that was originally around $20, unfortunately it had a small run and was already out of print before I discovered the Universe for myself).

Liaden Universe stories are usually a wonderful blend of action, scifi, comedy, culture, cats and romance. A delight to read for almost anyone.

Doorways of the Mind

“Perhaps the greatest faculty our minds possess is the ability to cope with pain. Classic thinking teaches us of the four doors of the mind, which everyone moves through according to their need.

First is the door of sleep. Sleep offers us a retreat from the world and all its pain. Sleep marks passing time, giving us distance from the things that have hurt us. When a person is wounded they will often fall unconscious. Similarly, someone who hears traumatic news will often swoon or faint. This is the mind's way of protecting itself from pain by stepping through the first door.

Second is the door of forgetting. Some wounds are too deep to heal, or too deep to heal quickly. In addition, many memories are simply painful, and there is no healing to be done. The saying 'time heals all wounds' is false. Time heals most wounds. The rest are hidden behind this door.

Third is the door of madness. There are times when the mind is dealt such a blow it hides itself in insanity. While this may not seem beneficial, it is. There are times when reality is nothing but pain, and to escape that pain the mind must leave reality behind.

Last is the door of death. The final resort. Nothing can hurt us after we are dead, or so we have been told.” 
- Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind

Thumbs and Ammo: By Tom T

Thumbs and Ammo: By Tom T: By Tom T

Book Recommendation: The Ranger’s Apprentice by John Flanagan

Recently I’ve discovered and started reading John Flanagan’s Ranger’s Apprentice Series. Initially I did not like the series as it seemed to me to be sort of plagiarizing off of Raymond Feist’s Magician’s Apprentice Series. In fact it seems fairly obvious that Flanagan used Feist’s books as a template for his own, at least in their initial stages.

The Magician books focus on two young orphan boys being raised as wards of a back-country lord. The custom in the area is for all children in the area to spend time working for all of the various craftmaster’s in the keep so that they may be evaluated and chosen into an apprenticeship that is suitable for them. In the Magician one boy has no problem becoming a warrior apprentice but the other isn’t chosen by any of the craftmasters and so is looking forward to a life of exile. At the last moment the Lord’s magician surprises everyone by stepping forward and taking the boy as an apprentice, something that the magician has never done before. The boy has always dreamed of being a warrior and so is uncertain and scared of the life this promises him.

The Ranger books does the same thing, although I don’t think quite as well. Only orphans are faced with needing a craftmaster to choose them to be an apprentice, otherwise they become common field hands. And there is no period of the children working under the craftmasters to be evaluated, it is much more of a… ‘yah, they look like they could do it’ kind of selection. But like the Magician books one of the boys is immediately selected for warrior training and the other is left standing alone and scared with nobody asking for his service… until the Lord’s mysterious ranger does so, something he’s never done before.

The Lost City of Gold

The Lost City of Gold - A movie rough

 

Characters

 

Good Guys

• Carl and Jane, husband and wife archaeologists
• Michael, archeology graduate student, and our stories main protagonist
• Jessica, anthropology graduate student, Michael’s girlfriend
• Daniel, male athlete, Michael’s brother, handsome, smart, and talented but a bit lazy
• Lora, Daniel’s girlfriend, beautiful but vapid
• Tori, organizes and leads expeditions for Carl and Jane, expert outdoor woman
• Terrance and Paul, Tori’s assistants. Terrance is in love with Tori which she is aware of but she doesn’t feel the same way because Tori is secretly attracted to Paul but hasn’t acted upon it because of her job supervising him and the friendship between Terrance and Paul. Unknown to either Terrance or Tori is that Paul is in the closet and in love with Terrance.
• Ryan, brilliant but socially awkward university student who is really good at putting the clues together but not with dealing with his crush on Jessica.
• The good guys also have several other minor members, such as several local Central American guys who have been part of previous expeditions are join the group when they reach Central America.

Bad Guys

• Aaron, archaeologist, competitor with Carl and Jane but unethical
• Mr. Gravis, billionaire businessman and artifact collector, often secretly fund’s Aaron’s expeditions
• Franco, Mr. Gravis’ head of security, enforcer. Secretly worships Pauline
• Jessica, our hero Michael’s girlfriend is unfortunately also Aaron’s lover, although she doesn’t realize how unethical he really is or about his secret backers and how bad they are.
• Pauline, Mr. Gravis’ personal assistant. Beautiful and an expert at manipulating men (and women) with her looks. Also very smart and organized, and not afraid to get her own hands dirty although she prefers to trick others into doing her dirty work.
• The Bad guys also have several other lesser characters for muscle: Gravis/Franco security employees, Aaron’s disreputable Central American contacts, people drawn in by Pauline, etc.