Which one? I can't find one (in English)cleaner464 wrote:My friend is taking a C++ course on Cousera. I haven't looked at it myself.Turdacious wrote:Doing something similar. Ever check out the Coursera stuff?cleaner464 wrote:I too have been getting my math/science skills back in order. I'm studying the "No Bullshit Guide to Math and Physics" to get back into the swing. Also, I have been using Khan Academy Calculus course. I'm amazed at how much I have forgotten since college.
Right now I'm reading
Topics without replies are pruned every 365 days. Not moderated.
Moderator: Dux
-
buckethead
- Sergeant Commanding
- Posts: 6638
- Joined: Mon Jan 03, 2005 6:25 pm
- Location: The Rockies
Re: Right now I'm reading
Post by buckethead »
buckethead
-
cleaner464
- Sgt. Major
- Posts: 4876
- Joined: Fri Jan 07, 2005 5:56 pm
Re: Right now I'm reading
Post by cleaner464 »
Bux, I will ask him and get back to you.
“Attached hereto is a copy of Mr. Trump’s birth certificate, demonstrating that he is the son of Fred Trump, not an orangutan,”
cleaner464
Beer Jew
Re: Right now I'm reading
Waterloo, the first non-fiction by Sharpes creator Bernard Cornwell. A good read.
ab g-d wrote:I can't understand how, given the training they did, the cavemen beat the dinosaurs.
beefheart
Re: Right now I'm reading
Been wanting to read that, looking to see if it ends up at used Books. I love his writing, no one describes battle better. He writes them in a way where it's easy to see the positions, distances and movement and keep your bearings. A lot of other writers don't do that nearly half as well.beefheart wrote:Waterloo, the first non-fiction by Sharpes creator Bernard Cornwell. A good read.
"God forbid we tell the savages to go fuck themselves." Batboy
DARTH
Re: Right now I'm reading
Darf:
Mrs. Beef is a library assistant (not a librarian, because that title is jealously guarded by those who have a Master of Library Science, at least around here) and would surely want me to recommend your local institution.
Mrs. Beef is a library assistant (not a librarian, because that title is jealously guarded by those who have a Master of Library Science, at least around here) and would surely want me to recommend your local institution.
ab g-d wrote:I can't understand how, given the training they did, the cavemen beat the dinosaurs.
beefheart
Wild Bill
-
Turdacious
- Lifetime IGer
- Posts: 21247
- Joined: Thu Mar 17, 2005 6:54 am
- Location: Upon the eternal throne of the great Republic of Turdistan
Re: Right now I'm reading
Post by Turdacious »
Escape from Camp 14, by Blaine Harden.
Brutal but great read, fuck North Korea.
Brutal but great read, fuck North Korea.
"Liberalism is arbitrarily selective in its choice of whose dignity to champion." Adrian Vermeule
Turdacious
Re: Right now I'm reading
Just read Tom Rob Smiths triogy:Child 44,Secret speach and Agent 6.Couldn`t put them down,well worth the read!
You`ll toughen up.Unless you have a serious medical condition commonly refered to as
"being a pussy".
"being a pussy".
Bobby
-
bennyonesix
- Sgt. Major
- Posts: 2710
- Joined: Tue Nov 24, 2009 3:25 am
Re: Right now I'm reading
Post by bennyonesix »
Rape of The Mind by Joost Meerloo.
Author was an Psychiatrist who watched and then underwent torture/mindcontrol at the hands of the Nazis. After that he escaped to Britain and worked for the Free Netherlands as an interrogator. And then relocated to the US where he pursued his practice and wrote on the subject.
The book is part autobiography and part analysis of societal pressures that are similar to what he went through.
Really fucking good.
Author was an Psychiatrist who watched and then underwent torture/mindcontrol at the hands of the Nazis. After that he escaped to Britain and worked for the Free Netherlands as an interrogator. And then relocated to the US where he pursued his practice and wrote on the subject.
The book is part autobiography and part analysis of societal pressures that are similar to what he went through.
Really fucking good.
bennyonesix
Re: Right now I'm reading
I just finished The Collector by John Fowles. To my shame I it was the first book by this author that I read. Amazing novel.
Sangoma
-
bennyonesix
- Sgt. Major
- Posts: 2710
- Joined: Tue Nov 24, 2009 3:25 am
Re: Right now I'm reading
Post by bennyonesix »
Watching this dude on CSPAN who wrote a book called Arms and the Dudes. About these Miami Beach stoners who got a deal from the US to run guns and ammo to the Afghans right up to 2008... I guess they bought a ton of 50's and 60's Chinese rounds from the Albanians and shipped them to Afghanistan... The NYT blew up the program and that was a death blow to Afghnistan or so says this guy... Looks like a cracking good read. Piss up a rope you ignorant fux if you disagree. I am gonna read it.
Arma virumque cano
Arma virumque cano
bennyonesix
Re: Right now I'm reading
Was reading the Art of Fielding because I saw it recommended by various folks - fucking awful, young adult shit. Bailed 40% of the way in, would have thrown the book but it would have damaged my Kindle.
Starting Tishomingo Blues.
Starting Tishomingo Blues.
milosz
-
bennyonesix
- Sgt. Major
- Posts: 2710
- Joined: Tue Nov 24, 2009 3:25 am
Re: Right now I'm reading
Post by bennyonesix »
Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky. 36 pages in and let's just say I feel like throwing up. It is the distillation of all that I oppose. And presented in the most subtle and cunning mind-fuckery I can imagine.
The Dedication:
Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgement to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins- or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom--- Lucifer.
The Dedication:
Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgement to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins- or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom--- Lucifer.
bennyonesix
-
bennyonesix
- Sgt. Major
- Posts: 2710
- Joined: Tue Nov 24, 2009 3:25 am
Re: Right now I'm reading
Post by bennyonesix »
One more quote that makes a lot of things make more sense:
From page 37 and in the section on the relationship between means and ends:
The essence of Lenin's speeches during this period was "They have the guns and therefore we are for peace and for reformation through the ballot. When we have the guns then it will be through the bullet." And it was.
I will also note that Alinsky is a HUGE fan of Lincoln. lulz.
From page 37 and in the section on the relationship between means and ends:
The essence of Lenin's speeches during this period was "They have the guns and therefore we are for peace and for reformation through the ballot. When we have the guns then it will be through the bullet." And it was.
I will also note that Alinsky is a HUGE fan of Lincoln. lulz.
bennyonesix
-
bennyonesix
- Sgt. Major
- Posts: 2710
- Joined: Tue Nov 24, 2009 3:25 am
Re: Right now I'm reading
Post by bennyonesix »
Sorry but got to put these down:
Machiavelli's blindness to the necessity for moral clothing to all acts and motives- he said "politics has no relation to morals"- was his major weakness.
Page 43
In his Social Contract, Rousseau noted the obvious, that "Law is a very good thing for men with property and a very bad thing for men without property."
Page 43
Machiavelli's blindness to the necessity for moral clothing to all acts and motives- he said "politics has no relation to morals"- was his major weakness.
Page 43
In his Social Contract, Rousseau noted the obvious, that "Law is a very good thing for men with property and a very bad thing for men without property."
Page 43
bennyonesix
-
DrDonkeyLove
- Sergeant Commanding
- Posts: 8034
- Joined: Thu Jan 20, 2005 4:04 am
- Location: Deep in a well
Re: Right now I'm reading
Post by DrDonkeyLove »
Keep at it B16. I want to understand Alinsky, and his acolytes but haven't been able to bring myself to read him yet.
Mao wrote:Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. Our principle is that the Party commands the gun, and the gun must never be allowed to command the Party
DrDonkeyLove
-
bennyonesix
- Sgt. Major
- Posts: 2710
- Joined: Tue Nov 24, 2009 3:25 am
Re: Right now I'm reading
Post by bennyonesix »
It's done. Easy read. The guy is a genius communicator and manipulator. It is well worth the read. It is nihilism pure and simple. It was no accident he cited Lucifer in his dedication.
It was fascinating. It is like dealing with a sociopath or narcissist. Exhausting and kind of exciting and embarrassing all at the same time. Alinsky bounces between flattering his reader and telling "hard truths" that are really just emotional/psychological abuse and telling puerile jokes and outright nihilism.
In a twisted sense he is "honest", he says that he enjoys nothing more than to insert himself into situations where he creates conflict and then relies on his intuition to increase and perpetuate that conflict. The point of his life is conflict and the sense of calm he gets within the center of the storm of his own creation. He is quite open in his desire to "play God" in this sense. He sees it as an act of creation in the same way God creates.
He is totally unconcerned with goals. He says again and again that they do not matter. Instead it is the "doing" and the "conflict" that is the point.
There is no there, there. It is empty.
it is amazing, he says a few times at the end that this whole thing is a rationalization. People kept asking him why he did the things he did and he had no answer: so he thought about it and came up with this book, this ideology.
It really just seems like a really high functioning psychopath wrote a book teaching sociopaths how to cause as much chaos in the world as possible.
It was fascinating. It is like dealing with a sociopath or narcissist. Exhausting and kind of exciting and embarrassing all at the same time. Alinsky bounces between flattering his reader and telling "hard truths" that are really just emotional/psychological abuse and telling puerile jokes and outright nihilism.
In a twisted sense he is "honest", he says that he enjoys nothing more than to insert himself into situations where he creates conflict and then relies on his intuition to increase and perpetuate that conflict. The point of his life is conflict and the sense of calm he gets within the center of the storm of his own creation. He is quite open in his desire to "play God" in this sense. He sees it as an act of creation in the same way God creates.
He is totally unconcerned with goals. He says again and again that they do not matter. Instead it is the "doing" and the "conflict" that is the point.
There is no there, there. It is empty.
it is amazing, he says a few times at the end that this whole thing is a rationalization. People kept asking him why he did the things he did and he had no answer: so he thought about it and came up with this book, this ideology.
It really just seems like a really high functioning psychopath wrote a book teaching sociopaths how to cause as much chaos in the world as possible.
bennyonesix
Re: Right now I'm reading
Benny, it makes one wonder what you do for a living. My guess is that you collect a paycheck for something so unimportant and boring that all you do is day dream and think up shit to post on IGx.
Obama's narcissism and arrogance is only superseded by his naivete and stupidity.
Andy83
-
bennyonesix
- Sgt. Major
- Posts: 2710
- Joined: Tue Nov 24, 2009 3:25 am
Re: Right now I'm reading
Post by bennyonesix »
I doubt you realize how right you are.
But I do fall in and out of the internet thing.
But I do fall in and out of the internet thing.
bennyonesix
-
buckethead
- Sergeant Commanding
- Posts: 6638
- Joined: Mon Jan 03, 2005 6:25 pm
- Location: The Rockies
Re: Right now I'm reading
Post by buckethead »
Does it correspond to when you fall in and out of sanity?bennyonesix wrote:
But I do fall in and out of the internet thing.
buckethead
Re: Right now I'm reading
This thread warrants a bump.
I just finished The Heretics, Adventures with the Enemies of Science by Will Storr. Very misleading title, as the text has little to do with science itself, but is rather sobering and humble look at how we see the world around us, how our beliefs are formed, why we do things we do, free will and other stuff. Thoroughly researched and very entertaining.
The Heretics
I just finished The Heretics, Adventures with the Enemies of Science by Will Storr. Very misleading title, as the text has little to do with science itself, but is rather sobering and humble look at how we see the world around us, how our beliefs are formed, why we do things we do, free will and other stuff. Thoroughly researched and very entertaining.
The Heretics
Sangoma
Re: Right now I'm reading
Another good recent read: The Rational Male - Preventive Medicine by Rollo Tomassi. A politically incorrect look into gender interaction psychology, with the emphasis on female psyche. The roles of the masculine and the feminine in the society. The feminine has the upper hand, by far.
The Rational Male - Preventive Medicine
The Rational Male - Preventive Medicine
Sangoma
-
Yes I Have Balls
- Top
- Posts: 2431
- Joined: Wed Dec 02, 2009 4:05 pm
- Location: Wherever they's a fight so hungry people can eat
Re: Right now I'm reading
Post by Yes I Have Balls »
Just finished The Martian (very good) and The Mayflower: Courage, Community & War by Nathaniel Philbrick (great historical fictionalized account of the Plymouth settlers.
Next on the nightstand is Aurora by Kim S. Robinson (hard Sci-Fi about colonizing a planet in the Tau Ceti system).
Next on the nightstand is Aurora by Kim S. Robinson (hard Sci-Fi about colonizing a planet in the Tau Ceti system).
Yes I Have Balls
-
tough old man
- Sergeant Commanding
- Posts: 7537
- Joined: Mon Nov 19, 2007 9:43 pm
- Location: Hell
Re: Right now I'm reading
Post by tough old man »
Just finished "Billy and the Boingers"
- Attachments
-
- bloom_county_vol1.jpg (63.97 KiB) Viewed 8318 times
"I am the author of my own misfortune, I don't need a ghost writer" - Ian Dury
"Legio mihi nomen est, quia multi sumus."
"Legio mihi nomen est, quia multi sumus."
tough old man