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What Am I?

@mitadayo-blog

Just reading blogs.
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reblogged
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blastron01

Ascendance of a Bookworm – 002

A New Life

Bang! Bang! A sound like someone striking the floor or a table rattles me awake, as wherever I was sleeping starts to wobble back and forth. With every oscillation, a shot of pain blasts through my skull like I was being punched in the head, and I let out a small moan.

Shut up… please… shut up…

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i need a hot boy who thinks they’re really ugly so they think im out of their league but actually they are way out of my league

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Coding Masterpost

Hey buddies guess what??

I’ve brought you some awesome links that I have for learning how to code, computer science posts, and also various things about hacking. :p

CODING / COMPUTER SCIENCE

The best free and paid classes on the web. This is my go to site for learning something new.

app.pluralsight.com

$40 a month but the courses are top tier. You might find a free trial from microsoft dev essentials…

Free MIT courses with video lectures, notes, and resources!!!

Perhaps the most famous site for learning how to code, this is must have for any aspiring computer scientist, web dev, or programmer. A smooth UI, dozens of courses, APIs, and fun quizzes if you decide to cough up a bit of money. $19 is crazy dirt cheap compared to some $200 courses out there on the web.

Dubbed by its creator as the social network for programmers, TNB is a hotbed of hundreds of video tutorials for programming and computer science, as well as other disciplines like cooking.

Another crazy important site for anyone serious about programming. You can find online terminals, IDEs, and tutorials for almost every popular language out there, from oCaml to lisp

Geared towards children, this is a good introudction to programming thinking and helps a younger audience get into the problem solving mindset.

For users with some coding experience, codewars offers hundreds of challenges in various languages and help them build up their skills. Perfect for intermediate to master programmers.

This site is a bit geared towards new coders, it’s still fun and helps a ton in developing confidence.

Random blog that discusses some concepts regarding computer science. Worth a read if you’re ever lost and wanna just reflect on something.

Both the old and new sites are still up and provide their services for learning IT skills.

RESOURCES FOR COMPILERS, DATABASES, FORUMS, and SO MUCH MORE TAKE A LOOK.

What good is a programmer if they can’t make a good resume to show off their skills? With these helpful templates you can impress your potential employer.

I haven’t used this so be cautious. Has a lot of ebooks.

Web development cheat sheet.

Awesome intro to programming with links to projects.

Eli has a blog and also videos for various things.

CCIE book. Not sure if it’s open source. I’ll remove this link if requested.

pay money, learn to code. seems legit.

A forum for Python usrers! There are only a few sections but there are enough posts on here so if you haev a question, it might have already been asked.

Another sweet forum that covers multiple topics.

A really popular forum! Lots of languages and users, dozens of topics.

Another large forum, perfect for any use.

A freaking large factory of forums you will never find the same post twice.

Lots of forums, jobs, and helpful resources all geared towards game development.

The most famous one imo. Be wary friend, don’t let your CS teacher find this in your browser history.

Resources, forums, tutorials, blow yourself out here.

Has some training missions and other stuff. Helps you find projects to work on.

Put your skills to the test against AI or humans.

Like big data? Well this site teaches you Python, the numpy library, and R.

Full of courses for anything.

handy book on progrmaming.

HACKING

This is one of the BEST websites to learn about security and you can follow tutorials by real hackers and members of the IT field. With a strong community full of experienced authors, you will either flourish by using proper grammar or be mocked for asking “how do i hack gmail??”

PERFECT FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS INTERESTED IN CYBERSECURITY BUT HAVE NO IDEA WHERE TO START. I CANNOT STRESS HOW AWESOME THIS SITE IS.

allison.com

ANOTHER PERFECT SITE FOR LEARNING ANYTHING

Small collection of resources for educating yourself on internet security.

A must read for anyone with a desire to get into IT

Crash course on Command line.

Great if you cannot afford pricy online classes. Instructors know what they are talking about and despite a few poor quality videos, you will be supplied with helpful resources and forums.

One of the better forums out there for learning. Delve into it at your own risk.

ROBLOX hacking, general exploits, or just normal discussions. Roblox helped put me on my path to coding and I love how every day, millions of kids are being taught the ability of coding thanks to its studio.

Lessons, challenges, forums, and resources all bundled in a site to hone your pentest skills.

Like hackthissite, but with a different UI

Read the above

Free pentest tools. Don’t use it for anything wrong.

Hehe..we are in defcon 4..

Capture the Flag learning site. Amazing imo.

Another war games site. You get various challenges that are fun to solve ^.^

Wikipedia but for security.

Wargames.

Compete against IT pros. Git rekt code-bug

Explore this site a bit.

The link kinda gives it away.

Fun little project.

Professional blog that has tutorials and highly detailed information.

Ahh read the above please!

A CTF guide. Pretty well written and has slides. Awesome resources. What else can I say?

Another swell blog.

Woa..another..awesome blog..there are too many to count!

Hey kid? Wanna learn how to hex edit like a b0ss?

Nice little pdf for forensics.

A blog that’s a bit dated but has useful information.

xeuhack.com

Dated but useful blog.

haven’t tried this yet but it has great reviews.

Search engine for data scientists.

Best sites to learn from.

Awww yiss ebooks

Might run into errors downloading books.

Full books that are virus free.

That’s all for now! Special thanks to everyone who suggested I make this!

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sad story

friend did a crappy torrent of norton antivirus, the program successfully detected itself as a threat and deleted itself during a scan

…this is some greek tragedy level shit

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my parents aren’t teaching me life lessons.

I’m an adult.

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Some shit about life, from a bonafide adult:

  • even if you get along great with your family you will get along even better with them after moving out 
  • generic is almost always just as good as name brand. But there are some things you never buy generic, including: peanut butter, ketchup, liquid NyQuil, Chips-Ahoy chewy chocolate chip cookies
  • just imagine the person on the other end of the phone hates talking on the phone as much as you do. Even a receptionist. I worked as one and I hate talking on the phone
  • at least once in your life you will go to Wal-mart to buy something under $20 like an ironing board or something and your debit card will get rejected. No one will judge. Everyone at some point in their lives has had $2.98 in their bank account. 
  • thrift stores
  • everyone else is too busy panicking about everyone else noticing every tiny thing that could possibly be wrong about them to notice any tiny thing that could possibly be wrong about you
  • you will screw up. a lot. you live and you learn. and when you start to think too hard about that embarrassing thing that happened and how you wish you could change it, just tell yourself that what’s done is done. There’s no changing it, so just forget it and move on. It’s the only way to stay sane.
  • do the dishes before the sink grows its own ecosystem
  • you can’t put Dawn dishsoap in the dishwasher. 
  • if you are the only one in the aisle at the grocery store, and you need to get from one end to the other without even looking at anything in that aisle, then you should totally cart-surf down the aisle. Growing old is mandatory. Growing up is optional. Hold on to the little things. They make all the difference.
  • never try to make cake from scratch at 3am. You end up with a topographical map of Middle Earth.
  • 15% tip. 
  • the best way to get money for food is to tell your grandparents about how you basically live on microwaved mac and cheese. Their horror may result in twenty bucks and orders to go out and get yourself “a real dinner”.
  • sometimes life sucks, and knowing that it might get better doesn’t always make it suck any less, but you’ll never get to the non-sucky days without enduring the suckiness. 
  • no seriously, NEVER put Dawn in your dishwasher

Do not buy generic brand spaghetti sauce either.

Always check the type of light bulb that goes in lamps. A 60w is not interchangeable with a 40w.

Dollar store batteries work just as well as store brand.

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shrineart
  • Reward yourself from time to time when you do things that you needed to get done. It’s a good way to remind yourself to do them. Going out to pay a bill? Get Starbucks or something you don’t get often. Rewards don’t have to be huge, they can be small things like that.
  • Rice, pasta, flour, sugar, cheese, eggs, milk, a pack of chicken, a pack of frozen veggies and a well stocked spice cabinet go a long way food-wise. Splurge and get the biggest container of rice you can. You don’t have to go back and buy it again anytime soon and it makes a TON of meals in the meantime.
  • Rice can be cooked on the stove. You don’t need a fancy rice cooker. Two parts water to every one part rice (two cups water for one cup of rice for example). Get your water boiling, add rice, put a plate or lid on it, put it on low for 20 minutes. It should be done.
  • Keep a calendar on your pc of bill due dates. If your bills are set up at inconvenient times, like all of the services started on the first or something, then call up the company and find out if you can get your billing date switched to something more manageable. A lot of places do try to work with you.
  • There is no shame in calling a company and asking for an extension on a bill. Let them know what you can pay, pay that amount, and they arrange when the rest of the payment is required. This can stop you from having services shut off man. It shows responsibility on your part.
  • Take time to eat, even when you don’t feel like eating. Your body needs energy to live.
  • Wash or rinse your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. It prevents gross caked on junk.
  • “The Works” is an excellent cheap toilet cleaner.
  • MAGIC. FUCKING. ERASERS. THEY WORK ON EVERYTHING JUST DON’T SCRUB HARD. I took the ring out of our bathtub with one. Also generic ones work just as well.
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  • Keep some bleach around but if you use it for cleaning? Dillute it. There’s rarely ever a case where you need to pout straight bleach on anything. A cap full or two in a bucket of water works just fine.
  • DO NOT MIX CLEANERS. Chemical reactions are can be very dangerous. Here’s a good list. (Note that vinegar and baking soda can actually be a good combo for removing smells from things but it’s not very good at actually -cleaning-.)
  • If you drink? Don’t take meds at the same time it’s just not good.
  • Make sure you check the dosages on your pill bottles. No one wants to accidentally overdose on cough syrup or ibuprofen.
  • If you have a uterus make sure you have a heating pad and ibuprofen on hand for the pain. Hot baths also generally help and Ginger Tea is excellent for any nausea.
  • Buy a first aid kit. It’s worth it in the long run.
  • You can often do your taxes online at places like TurboTax.
  • Here’s some good sex ed resources because I had to explain what a yeast infection was recently. 
  • Petroleum jelly (aka Vaseline) is good for chapped lips and you can get a decent sized tube or tub of it (generic brand version) for cheaper/same price as Chapstick.
  • KEEP TRIPLE ANTIBIOTIC OINTMENT IN YOUR HOUSE FOR CUTS AND SCRAPES AND SORES. 

~~Medications~~

Over the counter medications (stuff you can buy right off the shelf no prescription needed) have a name brand and a generic name. ALWAYS buy generic if it’s available it is literally the same thing and way cheaper usually.

Some names to remember when you’re looking for meds!

Acetaminophen = Tylenol

Used to treat pain and reduce fever. Do not take with Ibuprofen.

Ibuprofen = Advil, Midol, Motrin

Used for pain and fever, is an anti-inflammtory. Is good for period cramps because it is an NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug).

Naproxen = Aleve, Naprosyn

Treats fever, pain, arthritis pain, gout, period cramps, tendinitis, headache, backache, and toothache. Is also an NSAID.

Acetaminophen + Asprin + Caffeine = Excedrin

Usually marketed as “Migraine Relief” as a generic.

Asprin = Bayer

Use for pain, fever, arthritis, and inflammation. Makes you bleed easily so should not be used for periods. Might reduce risk of heart attacks.\

Triple Antibiotic Ointment = Neosporin

Used on cuts, sores, and scrapes to reduce risk of infection and promote healing.

Also a general mutli-vitamin isn’t a bad idea and if you don’t get a lot of fruits or milk/sunshine in your diet you might want to get vitamins C and D specifically for daily use.

if you do accidentally lapse and put dawn in your dishwasher, run it empty and put hair conditioner where the detergent goes. that’ll clean it out (tip given to me by dorm custodian when roommate did the thing).

if you live off ramen, add stuff to it! add veggies you like, don’t use the whole flavor packet to cut down on sodium and msg or don’t use it at all and add your own spices.

if you’re making something with potatoes in it (beans, stew) potatoes are done when you can easily stab a fork through them.

you can microwave a hotdog as long as you put it in a microwave safe container of water. microwaves work by making water molecules vibrate. also, when reheating rice leftovers, add a small amount of water, like maybe a spoonfull, so it doesn’t get hard and crunchy.

the rice cooking advice above is for long grain rice. if you’re making short or medium grain rice, a 1:1 ratio (one cup water for one cup rice) is better, so the rice doesn’t come out too mushy.

buy a few cans of chicken. wholesale club stores like sam’s, costco, or bj’s tend to carry multipacks for a good price. they’re incredibly useful for when you forget to defrost meat.

buy meat on sale and put it in the freezer. buy vegetables on sale, and put them in the freezer. frozen veggies are often as flavorful and good as fresh ones, keep longer, and often come in microwaveable bags or with microwave directions.

soak ink stains in milk to help get them out or at least lighten them.

soak blood stains in water as soon as possible, with a bit of detergent or stain remover. scrub at them. use cold water, heat binds proteins to fabric. tbh, there’s no real need to change the washer from cold-cold setting unless the thing you’re washing says to wash in warm water.

acetone, found in most nail polish removers, dissolves super glue.

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cloningmycat

YOU’RE ALL DOING GOD’S WORK BLESS YOU

Takes pictures, have prints made and put them in photo albums. Be IN the pictures, have someone take pictures of you and your friends. Get over not looking perfect in thw picture. Someday that friend might be gone and those pictures might be all you’ll have, you will want to be in them. I made that mistake with my best friend, i always felt weird asking for a picture together… he died of cancer January of 2014 and now i have no pictures of us together. Its my only regret in life.

This is really helpful, thank you all!

I’m the newest of new adults but I’m gonna throw these little tips in there. IF YOU HAVE AN OLD CAR: 

-coolant or water if your car overheats (coolant is preferable cause it won’t hurt the engine in the long run but hey i know money is tight) 

-flashlight in case you break down at night and need to check under the hood and your phone is dead

-SPARE TIRE. 

-jumper cables.you will at some point leave your lights on. you just will. 

AAA or any other road side service is never a bad investment i swear. (try to mooch it off your parents as long as you can though) 

Know how to change a tire. You’re going to need to do it at some point in time and you can’t always rely on someone else to do it for you.

Don’t be afraid to go to your local food bank. They are there for a reason.

Don’t be ashamed to ask for help period. Life is hard, everyone needs help occasionally.

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woodelf68

You can put a LOWER wattage bulb in a lamp that says it’s for a higher one, but don’t put a HIGHER wattage bulb in. Also, watts refer to the amount of electricity used. LUMENS refers to the amount of light put out, and can vary quite a bit between brands, even though the wattage is the same. Look for the one with the highest lumens unless you actually want a slightly dimmer bulb in a certain location. Those dollar store batteries? Fine if they’re alkaline. “Heavy-duty” batteries, however, won’t last nearly as long. You can microwave a hot dog and bun simply by wrapping them in a toweling for a minute, less if you don’t want them scalding hot.

Reblogging to save lives.

Two adulting (kitchen-related) tips from me!

1. Buy a roll of parchment paper from the cooking shit aisle. A big roll will last you for-fucking-ever. Pretty much any time you’re using a baking pan you can line it with that stuff and save yourself A: food sticking to the pan and B: it’s a quick rinse and it’s clean.

2. Bread can get fucking expensive, so make your own. A bigass bag of flour and a bag of active dry yeast (store it in the friiiiidge!!!) works out a FUCK of a lot cheaper than buying bread at the store, and you can do so much more with it. Bread, pizza, rolls, cinnibuns, homemade pizza pockets. It seems intimidating but it’s stupid easy.

Seriously. It’s stupid simple to make, and most of the “3 hours” to make it is sitting around surfing the internet or doing whatever the fuck you want while the dough rises. If you have an afternoon free once a week to sit and play video games or surf the net, you have the time to make your own bread on the cheap. Here’s my simple-as-fuck recipe:

2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast (You can buy a bag of this stuff CHEAP in bulk stores, the little packets are hella stupid priced) 1 cup warm water (think a hot bath) 1 ½ teaspoons sugar 2 tablespoons oil (any kind works for the most part) 2 ¼ cups flour 1 teaspoon salt
1. Stir the yeast, water, sugar, and oil up in a bowl. Let it sit for about 10 minutes. It will foam up VERY high, this is the yeast getting happy! If it doesn’t get all foamy, the water may have been too hot or not hot enough. Remember, Yeast is alive! Treat it like a nice girlfriend!
2. Mix your flour, salt, and the yeast concoction up in a bowl.
3. Knead that shit for about 5 minutes. It will start sticky as heck, but will come together into a nice dough. If it’s still super sticky, toss in a bit more flour. Here’s how to knead it: 
4. Put your dough in a covered, lightly oiled bowl and leave it someplace warmish for an hour. At that point it will have roughly doubled in size, give it a gentle punch to release the gasses that have built up inside. Cover it again and let it sit for a bit longer.

Boom. You have bread dough. Here are some baking times and uses for ya:

Optional egg-wash: Just crack an egg into a bowl, add a pinch of salt, and mix the bejeebus out of it with a fork. Brush (or if you’re like me, goop it on with said fork) that shit thinly on bread before baking for a nice crust.
Pizza: Stretch it on a pan, stab the fucker all over with a fork, add toppings, bake 425*F 15-20 minutes. 
Bread Sticks: Make snake-shapes, let rest on pan 10-ish minutes, bake 400*F 10-20 minutes.
Dinner rolls: Make ball-sized (yes those balls) balls. Place on greased pan, let rest 10-20 minutes to rise. Egg-wash and bake 375*F 25 minutes.
Bread: Lightly score (cut) the top, let sit for 20-ish minutes on/in whatever you’re using to bake it, egg-wash, bake at 375*F for 20-ish minutes. It’s done when it sounds hollow if you knock on the bottom.
You bet your ass you can deep-fry this shit for cheapie yeast doughnuts. Roll that shit in sugar or dip it in whatever, it’s fucking tasty.
Bagels: YES. YOU. CAN. Form bagel-shapes out of the dough and boil them in salty water for about 2 minutes. Egg-wash them and bake them at 400*F for 10 minutes.
Cinnamon Rolls: Roll that shit out into a rectangle. Brush it with a mix of butter, cinnamon, sugar, and a pinch of salt (no exact amounts here, do it to your taste). Roll it up into a log, and cut it into discs. Let them sit 20 minutes in a pan and then bake at 375*F 15-17 minutes.

You can add whatever you want to the dough for some variety, just if it’s dried spices remember you really only need 1-ish tablespoons. I personally like making bread with about 1 tablespoon of dill in the dough. Roll it out flat, sprinkle it with cheddar, roll it into a log, squeeze the ends shut, and bake it like a regular loaf of bread. Cheesy dill bread OMNOMNOM.

*ahem* That got a bit long. But yeah. Bread’s expensive, yo. Save your wallet.

(Also it’s ridiculous amounts of therapeutic to bake, for me anyway)

Being able to bake your own bread is pretty awesome, if you got the time for it. 

Reblogging in case of independence

Best post ever seen.

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Coding Masterpost

Hey buddies guess what??

I’ve brought you some awesome links that I have for learning how to code, computer science posts, and also various things about hacking. :p

CODING / COMPUTER SCIENCE

The best free and paid classes on the web. This is my go to site for learning something new.

app.pluralsight.com

$40 a month but the courses are top tier. You might find a free trial from microsoft dev essentials…

Free MIT courses with video lectures, notes, and resources!!!

Perhaps the most famous site for learning how to code, this is must have for any aspiring computer scientist, web dev, or programmer. A smooth UI, dozens of courses, APIs, and fun quizzes if you decide to cough up a bit of money. $19 is crazy dirt cheap compared to some $200 courses out there on the web.

Dubbed by its creator as the social network for programmers, TNB is a hotbed of hundreds of video tutorials for programming and computer science, as well as other disciplines like cooking.

Another crazy important site for anyone serious about programming. You can find online terminals, IDEs, and tutorials for almost every popular language out there, from oCaml to lisp

Geared towards children, this is a good introudction to programming thinking and helps a younger audience get into the problem solving mindset.

For users with some coding experience, codewars offers hundreds of challenges in various languages and help them build up their skills. Perfect for intermediate to master programmers.

This site is a bit geared towards new coders, it’s still fun and helps a ton in developing confidence.

Random blog that discusses some concepts regarding computer science. Worth a read if you’re ever lost and wanna just reflect on something.

Both the old and new sites are still up and provide their services for learning IT skills.

RESOURCES FOR COMPILERS, DATABASES, FORUMS, and SO MUCH MORE TAKE A LOOK.

What good is a programmer if they can’t make a good resume to show off their skills? With these helpful templates you can impress your potential employer.

I haven’t used this so be cautious. Has a lot of ebooks.

Web development cheat sheet.

Awesome intro to programming with links to projects.

Eli has a blog and also videos for various things.

CCIE book. Not sure if it’s open source. I’ll remove this link if requested.

pay money, learn to code. seems legit.

A forum for Python usrers! There are only a few sections but there are enough posts on here so if you haev a question, it might have already been asked.

Another sweet forum that covers multiple topics.

A really popular forum! Lots of languages and users, dozens of topics.

Another large forum, perfect for any use.

A freaking large factory of forums you will never find the same post twice.

Lots of forums, jobs, and helpful resources all geared towards game development.

The most famous one imo. Be wary friend, don’t let your CS teacher find this in your browser history.

Resources, forums, tutorials, blow yourself out here.

Has some training missions and other stuff. Helps you find projects to work on.

Put your skills to the test against AI or humans.

Like big data? Well this site teaches you Python, the numpy library, and R.

Full of courses for anything.

handy book on progrmaming.

HACKING

This is one of the BEST websites to learn about security and you can follow tutorials by real hackers and members of the IT field. With a strong community full of experienced authors, you will either flourish by using proper grammar or be mocked for asking “how do i hack gmail??”

PERFECT FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS INTERESTED IN CYBERSECURITY BUT HAVE NO IDEA WHERE TO START. I CANNOT STRESS HOW AWESOME THIS SITE IS.

allison.com

ANOTHER PERFECT SITE FOR LEARNING ANYTHING

Small collection of resources for educating yourself on internet security.

A must read for anyone with a desire to get into IT

Crash course on Command line.

Great if you cannot afford pricy online classes. Instructors know what they are talking about and despite a few poor quality videos, you will be supplied with helpful resources and forums.

One of the better forums out there for learning. Delve into it at your own risk.

ROBLOX hacking, general exploits, or just normal discussions. Roblox helped put me on my path to coding and I love how every day, millions of kids are being taught the ability of coding thanks to its studio.

Lessons, challenges, forums, and resources all bundled in a site to hone your pentest skills.

Like hackthissite, but with a different UI

Read the above

Free pentest tools. Don’t use it for anything wrong.

Hehe..we are in defcon 4..

Capture the Flag learning site. Amazing imo.

Another war games site. You get various challenges that are fun to solve ^.^

Wikipedia but for security.

Wargames.

Compete against IT pros. Git rekt code-bug

Explore this site a bit.

The link kinda gives it away.

Fun little project.

Professional blog that has tutorials and highly detailed information.

Ahh read the above please!

A CTF guide. Pretty well written and has slides. Awesome resources. What else can I say?

Another swell blog.

Woa..another..awesome blog..there are too many to count!

Hey kid? Wanna learn how to hex edit like a b0ss?

Nice little pdf for forensics.

A blog that’s a bit dated but has useful information.

xeuhack.com

Dated but useful blog.

haven’t tried this yet but it has great reviews.

Search engine for data scientists.

Best sites to learn from.

Awww yiss ebooks

Might run into errors downloading books.

Full books that are virus free.

That’s all for now! Special thanks to everyone who suggested I make this!

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reblogged

Top 10 Tips To Protect Yourself From Hackers

Follow these Top 10 Tech Security Tips To Keep Yourself Safe From Hackers.If you are surfing the net or your computer is linked in anyway to Internet, you would be aware of the risks that cyber criminals pose to you. Computer security, also known as cybersecurity or IT security, is the protection of information systems from theft or damage to the hardware, the software, and to the information on…
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The thing about computer programming is that it’s a complete pain in the ass when you’re trying to figure out the problem, yet when you finally solve it, when you finally have that aha moment, the feeling of accomplishment is unlike anything you’ve felt when you’ve accomplished something. You think holy shit, I can make technology work, and that feeling is totally worth the long stretch of hours or even days when computer programming feels like a pain in the ass.

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Hello all, today I bring you my computer science masterpost, which is based on my experiences with CS in high school and college (and also from talking other CS studyblrs). Full disclosure, I have only been studying CS for about two years (and mainly in Java) so this is not coming from an expert, but I want to put what I know out there to help all y’all, so HERE WE GO!

First off: If you haven’t already, check out posts like this and this (and many others) for online CS resources and practice. Code Academy is especially great for brushing up on the basics, and I really like Coding Bat for little exercises to warm up your brain before jumping into a bigger project. @thisgirlcodes​ also told me about this link for free CS books. 

THROUGHOUT THE YEAR

  • Code. A lot. 
  • More on this later, but my general advice is to fully go through code examples from class instead of ignoring them or just glancing over them
  • In addition, you can write your own mini-programs using concepts you are learning to see how they work in practice
  • Also make sure you are running the most current version of your IDE, this will help you avoid errors from out of date software
  • Keep up with your homework problems/textbook readings 
  • Even if it is for completion you should try to do it right (ideally without looking at your notes)
  • The material won’t always be directly relevant to your class, but it can never hurt to know more about the subject
  • Mark up/retype lecture notes
  • Pretty standard studyblr advice: don’t let your notes sit, reviewing them over time is the best way to make sure you learn it
  • Keep a running study guide
  • Every time you encounter something particularly difficult or something your teacher really stresses, add it to the study guide and come test time you will already be ahead with studying
  • You could even make a shared Google Doc and have multiple people contributing to it throughout the year 
  • Make a routine and stay with it
  • Something like “After every class do this, every week do this, etc.” will keep you on track better than just randomly studying
  • Know how your grade is calculated to better allocate your time
  • In my class, projects are not worth very much individually, but they take up so much of my time and energy and can distract me from studying for the really big stuff like tests and quizzes
  • Knowing what is worth more can tell you which areas need more or less of your time

CODING

Many people think they can understand concepts just by looking at a piece of code, but this has never worked for me. Here’s what does work: Download/copy the code you want to understand. Upload it into your code viewing platform of choice (usually I use Eclipse, BlueJ, or Drive Notepad). Then go through it thoroughly. Make as many comments as you need to understand how it is running. Trace what is happening from input to output. See what concepts are being applied in the code. Basically you need to interact with it, not just read it. I am really bad about finding the motivation to do this because it’s a lot of work, but it really does help you understand the material on a deeper level. 

I’ve commented this code that I found here so you can see what I’m talking about (I commented a lot, of course you can do as much or as little as you like).

PREPARING FOR TESTS

The two key things to do when preparing for a test are to know the concepts and to do practice problems. Any combination of things from this list can work, it’s up to you to find what you like.

  • Teacher-assigned homework problems
  • Practice test problems and answers
  • Going to office hours/after school help
  • Assigned projects
  • Side projects 
  • Chapter Review and Quick Check questions from textbook
  • Quiz and test corrections
  • General notes/lecture review
  • Code that accompanies lecture/discussion

Another note: I always find it really hard to do problems without looking at the answers. In my mind I know it will help me learn better if I attempt the questions without looking at the answers, but I still really really just want to look at them. I think it’s a combination of it being much more effort to figure it out and also that you can kind of trick yourself. If you do all the problems yourself and struggle with them, you feel terrible, but if you just look at the answers it’s easy breezy. So try to remember that having trouble with practice problems isn’t the end of the world, and in the long run it will help you learn.

OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL

  • Join clubs/networks for coding
  • Of course I gotta plug Women in Tech and especially the women in tech network on tumblr, hi ladies <3 
  • I joined the AWC, or the Association for Women in Computing, and there are many other associations to explore
  • Jobs/Internships
  • This would require a whole different post, but essentially if you are in a position to get a job/internship, real world experience with code will increase your skill level very quickly
  • Outside projects
  • I’ve never been one to tinker around with stuff, but it seems like every guy and his uncle has built a PC or a web app so you might want to try it for yourself
  • You can also get involved with compsci people from tumblr or from your school and build things together with Git and Slack

OTHER GENERAL TIPS

  • Logical thinking (courtesy of @thisgirlcodes)
  • Compsci requires a certain approach to problem solving that doesn’t come naturally to everyone at first; you kind of have to train yourself to think through all these possibilities when writing code and solving problems. It can seem impossible at first, especially when you see these super-fancy, super-efficient designs made by top-level programmers, but with enough practice I know you can develop the skill.
  • Real talk for ladies: there’s a lot of dudes out there. Talk to them. If you only stick with girls you won’t be getting the full experience, and you might miss the opportunity to meet some amazing people. 

PEP TALK

Studying computer science is hard work. HARD. WORK. Compsci is one of those fields that has a lot of geniuses; these people seem to just skim on by and understand everything perfectly, leaving you (or at least me) feeling useless and dumb and like you’ll never catch up. My philosophy for dealing with this has been, “If you can’t out-think them, out-work them,” and also, “You don’t have to be good at it, you just have to do it.” Many many people do extremely well in this field without being geniuses, and they do it by working hard over time. I really like this reddit thread that talks about feeling discouraged by everyone’s success. It’s good to remember that just because you aren’t the best at something doesn’t mean you can’t make contributions to and do well in your field.

And that’s it! Wishing you the best of luck in whatever you pursue! <3<3<3

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white people are something else

Do white people think pork is our kryptonite? lmao I’ll step over them pig heads and still run up in your street

Poor Bob, slaughtered his family to make a political statement :/

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people talking about your confidence is a fat girl thing, isn’t it? 

i really can’t tell you how many times i get this in my inbox:

i love your confidence! your confidence is sexy! i envy your confidence! 

and a thin girl recently told me: confidence is the most attractive thing a women can carry though, and that is only something you can control.

but i have never seen a thin girl be told it’s their confidence that makes them attractive. when i get these messages it really reads like: fat girls aren’t supposed to be confident and comfortable in their skin but you are!! and that’s kind of gross honestly.

PEEEEERRRRREEEAAACCCHHHHHHHHH

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reblogged

I drew this to help me understand setting up my own Web server: bottom left is my Web server, right is the external domain server I registered with

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