(Part 3) Best products from r/Showerthoughts

If you are completely new to programming, don't worry, it's definitely not as hard as people believe it is.

The first important thing when you are learning any programming language is to be goal oriented, because this is what is going to keep you engaged and make you more likely to actually gain something from anything you read.

Think of the most tedious and repetitive task that can save you some time - that is going to be your best place to start. For instance, some formatting always has to be updated and it's time consuming, or you need to create a letter from information on a speadsheet every day etc. That's where you'll see your work pay off immediately, and that rush of having it work for you every day will really inspire you to keep going. For me, it was taking a bunch of files and porting the information to one place initially.

Once you know what your end goal is and what you want it to do, google it in every variation you can find. YouTube tutorials are actually where I started, just to see if what I was thinking of was possible. They have a lot of great resources for how to do certain things and you can find out if the concept is achievable this way really easily. Try to "steal" code or try examples that you find. (Just put a url in a comment or some indicator of where you found it from because you will forget later, and having the page it came from can significantly help when you are troubleshooting. This is attribution etiquette for programming, anyway.) Don't get discouraged if the code doesn’t work the way you imagined, this is going to allow you to see why it behaved the way it did later on and is a really important step to learning how things worked. Besides, with anything you do, you will likely have to mold it so much to your project, it will end up being more your work than anyone else's in the end either way.

[Wise Owl Tutorials] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHO5NIcZAc4&list=PLNIs-AWhQzckr8Dgmgb3akx_gFMnpxTN5) are some of the most thorough and logically laid out tutorials I have seen for VBA and I heartily recommend this if you learn better through video - he's pretty much made a full course of it.

Then, I would say dive in and find out how the language itself works for a little bit. Read about variables, if statements (and variations of these), and loops.

Variables are the placeholders for your data, and using the right ones in VBA means that you can make your program run faster or slower, so it definitely helps to get an understanding of these and what they do early.

If statements and operators and their variations are the parameters that determine what happens. (If dog does not = fed, then feed dog.) These are the logic that everything runs on. You would be surprised how much coding comes down to statements like the dog example.

Loops are how your program is able to do a few things to a large data set in very little time in a structured way. (For each dog, if dog is not fed, then feed dog, then move onto the next dog.) These are also ubiquitous in all programming languages, but the syntax varies between language. This is how those if statements become really powerful.

If you are like me, and learn well from books, these two have been the best ones I've found:

[Excel 2016 Power Programming with VBA (Mr. Spreadsheet's Bookshelf)] (https://www.amazon.com/Excel-Power-Programming-Spreadsheets-Bookshelf/dp/1119067723/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539050489&sr=8-1&keywords=john+walkenbach+excel+2016+vba)
This book is great for learning from the very beginning, especially if you don't have any previous programming knowledge. It will walk you through everything in a very easy to read way and get you dreaming about the possibilities with VBA. It also shows you why you may end up wanting to get detailed in the ways you think about variables etc with timed examples. I used the 2013 edition of this book and I was very pleased. This is a great choice as your first book covering the basics.

Mastering VBA for Microsoft Office 2016:
This book is the one I used the most out of all of the books that I bought on the subject. It has some really excellent examples of things you may not have even imagined could be done in VBA that give the language a lot of power and usefulness. I still refer to it, even though I outgrew all of my other books. It spells out a lot of the basics as well, and if I had to refer to VBA on a desert island, this would be the only book I would bring. (Although the idea of having to refer to VBA on a desert island is a special kind of nightmare, even for someone like me who loves it.)

If you can only afford one of these, definitely get this one - the first one is great for baby steps but becomes outgrown quickly. I recommend it mostly because it does an excellent job of explaining programming if you have never done it before.

The Spreadsheet Guru has some really basic things ranging to some more advanced concepts and is not a bad place to start learning some quick fixes.

Excel Macro Mastery is great for getting to know how the moving parts work, especially with some of the complex data types that it can be a little hard to wrap your head around as a newcomer. This site has some times when it will try to sell you on his program, but it's worth a little annoyance for the truly good advice:

Excel Virtuoso is excellent for advanced program structures and how to make VBA act more like an object oriented programming language. It may be good for some of the earlier stuff, but this is when I found ways to do things that most people don't seem to know it can, including ways to make custom classes for data do things that are not very well known and only glossed over in most VBA programming books. It's been a godsend for me, and is the cornerstone that a lot of my work actually hinges on as the project I took on was far more complex than the scope of most macros, which are quick and simple maneuvers primarily.

But don't limit yourself to these resources. Look everywhere when you are trying to learn and don't fret overly with whether you are doing something right or wrong. Make it, test it, troubleshoot it, and improve.

The computer will not explode if you do something wrong. VBA is meant to be like a fisher price language because the intent of providing it is more for office workers than full blown programmers. At worst, your program will shut down and you may have to end the task in task manager or reboot your computer. This is rare. Most times, the compiler will remind you that you missed some part of syntax, which is a quick and easy fix that even advanced programmers have to deal with all of the time.

Feel free to look at places like stack overflow, but take all of this advice with a grain of salt, because there are normally at least 20 ways to do something (and that is on the low end) and everyone can get a little protective of their way. I use this as more of a brainstorming effort.

And if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to you. If I haven't dealt with it already, I may be able to point you in the right direction. :)

Also, if you're interested in learning programming in general, this is an awesome list of coding courses and where to find free coding courses that freecodecamp sent out this summer:
https://medium.freecodecamp.org/500-free-online-programming-computer-science-courses-you-can-start-in-august-bc1bcac1af5e

I've really just been lurking /r/fidgetspinners for the past couple of days.

I only have one spinner - a Cigreen C3. It's small, but heavy. It spins pretty well. I have huge hands, and I wish it was a little bigger, but it's fairly quiet and feels good in the hand. I can't put it down.

This Apsung spinner has a neat shape and is also reportedly excellent.

If you want a more colorful spinner, this Atesson Tri-Spinner is one of the highest rated on Amazon, and also happens to be even cheaper than some of the plastic ones.

WeFidget's "The Bar" is a highly recommended bar spinner. The bar shape is said to be harder to spin with one hand, but may be better for everyday carry and "fidgetability."

The difference between a 2-bar and a 3-bar spinner is mostly size and wobble. 2-bars are more discreet and look even less like fidget spinners, so if that's what you're after, start there. They also are said to have a more pronounced "wobble" when tilting it from vertical to horizontal and vice versa during a spin. I can't personally attest to this, of course, but I believe what the enthusiasts have to say on the matter.

Different spinners have different bearings. The bearing is the bit that makes a spinner spin. Here is a guide on the different types of materials used in spinner bearings. It seems to mostly be a matter of preference.

If you want more recommendations, or just want to see some cool spinners owned by friendly people, check out the subreddit. They're the ones who recommended me my C3, and I really enjoy the little thing. To me, it's pleasing just to look at, and small enough to carry and play with everywhere.

No, you're confusing wealth and money. Wealth is anything of value, and because people are constantly working to make products and deliver services, wealth is ever-increasing. Money is somewhat of a net sum of zero, but this is not as much of a problem because people can increasingly accumulate wealth.

If you build yourself a house, you have created wealth. No one loses anything from your efforts. If you then choose to sell the house, money will be transferred, but this is incidental and not very important because the buyer of the house can create their own wealth, say, through making trinkets. Them trading their (large number of) trinkets for your house benefits both parties. Money is just a means to trade the wealth created by one person for the wealth created by another. In this example, assuming a fair trade of trinkets to house, both parties are better off, and no one loses wealth.

Because wealth and money are different, everyone can gain wealth without anyone having to lose wealth. Money will change hands, but this is necessary to conveniently trade wealth.

I highly recommend the book Hackers & Painters by Paul Graham. In chapter 7, he discusses this topic at length.

I am going to give my two cents as a teacher, since I feel like there is a lot to my profession that is often misunderstood, misrepresented, or generalized. I can only speak for my specific situation. I teach English and Social Studies to 7th and 8th graders in a private religious school-environment in an urban part of the midwest in the United States. I graduated last May from a school that focuses on teaching teachers how to work with students in an urban situation. My views are my own. This post is going to ramble! I am writing this during my plan period(s) today in-between my other work. I am using this post to reflect on my teaching philosophies and to reaffirm my approach to learning.

I am paid roughly 8000 less than I would be paid as a public school teacher around the city. My resources are also limited because the organization I work for is not well funded. I commute roughly 40 minutes each way to and from work. My population is mainly Latino, but I also serve students with Italian, European, and Asian backgrounds.

As a trade off I have the following benefits:

• I work with only about 40 students everyday.-I know each student fairly well. I student taught 6th grade and worked with 180 students at that placement!
  
• Three days a week I have two hours of plan time.-I am able to do most of my planning at work, so that reduces the amount of stress I have at home.-Most teachers get less than an hour and do their class work at home. That is a great way to burn yourself out if you take it too far.
  
• My building is small, so I know every staff member very well.-Less friction and no cliques compared to the larger schools. I am also one of three male teachers in the building, which puts me at a generic minority in my field.
  
  I am given a lot of freedom to experiment and run my classroom to what I feel is best for my students. The current data suggests the following things. I am not going to cite here, but please feel free to do so if you agree/disagree with me:
  
  Teachers need to be warm but firm. We are not parents, but we should not be cold either. We need to be genuine but not too open either. It's a rough balance that many struggle with--including myself. I believe the teacher can make or break the overall success of the student, because they determine the environment of their room. There are always exceptions. Students from poor home lives bring baggage. Administration can add frustrations. Class sizes are also a large issue. We as educators still need to welcome and acknowledge these factors and accept they are a large part of our classrooms. I try to make culture and choice large parts of my environment. I play world music and give students choices with what books they want to read in class for an assignment. I try to make my content fun and engaging. It's hard and often I have to have less fun front-loading with my lessons.
  
  Lecture is dead. We need to engage our students in group work and give them time to learn how to communicate well. Paper writing is also less important along with memorizing facts. I realize that I am going to lose many of you with these previous two sentences and I am certain the college folks will crucify me. HOWEVER, we need flexible learners who can compose a variety of media from poems to podcasts. I still teach argumentative writing and the traditional essay with sources, but it's a unit for me and not an year long crusade. The needs of our students have shifted to reflect the 'modern world's focus on communication and assessing information, but educational policy has not moved with the vigor I personally want. The research is way ahead of where most of us are teaching, because often we are forced to do more work with less time or work around those who interfere in our classes--policy makers and old fossils that haven't taught in ages but still insist on decades old mandates that no longer reflect the real world. I'm especially angry at textbooks right now. They are written at a much higher processing level than most of my students can read. The companies involved make a lot of money and often deliver biased or unfocused bullshit that lacks key information, first-hand accounts, or common sense.
  
  My point is that everyone reading this has been in some kind of school environment and judges education based on their own previous history. Good teachers work to offer good teaching, but good teaching is built on the needs of the students in a particular environment. This has to be generated by professionals that are trying to continually hone their craft and not allow new ideas in education to lie fallow. I am very fortunate to have the position I currently operate in, since I have so much luxury compared to my peers. I request that those who consider many educators to be failures at other careers note how hard it is to get dozens and dozens of young people to do anything relevant in any environment. I love teaching young people who already have a vested interest in learning, but often my students would rather be doing anything else besides being in class. I challenge you to find and read the research on how education is supposed to be and assess if your teachers attempted any of the good and correct practices we are trying to implement in modern education. Unfortunately we are experiencing growing pains and it takes a long time to move the 'ship' in the right direction.
  
  Suggested reading: Most of these are urban focused, but our classrooms are becoming more diverse every year.
  
  
• Robert Marzano's work, specifically his focus on group collaboration
  
• Dave Burgess: 'Teach like a Pirate'
  
• Lipson
  
• Multicultural Teaching
  
• Ukpokodu
  
• NCSS Standards

> How are you in business?

I sell books.

> Name some.

http://www.amazon.com/Star-Cross-Raymond-L-Weil-ebook/dp/B017CM03GE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453850131&sr=8-1&keywords=the+star+cross

(Not my book, and not very well written, but the man is a USA Today Best Seller and moves thousands of units a day)

> I have a degree in computer programming and I'm a video game journalist, my wife is a former game developer. I know the industry inside and out and you are making shit up.

Now we're going to compare credentials. I guess there's one in every thread.

I've been writing computer games since Gerald Ford was president. I have credits in multiple Steam titles with seven figures+ in revenues and credits in a full four dozen other titles on as many as six platforms.

I've also written 60 books in four genres. I have no titles with zero sales. I haven't had a zero-revenue day in my book business since 2013. I have a worldwide audience of total strangers willing to pay money to read what I write. I'm one of perhaps 10,000 people on Earth who can make that statement, which means I'm about as rare as a Major League Baseball starter.

> You have two categories of successful writers on amazon: Romance wirters. Erotic Fiction writers.

Uh huh. Now you're going to tell me how Amazon works too?

> Who do you think buys those games for kids?

Nobody. That's why they constantly bitch about price.

> I sincerely doubt that.

Doesn't surprise me at all. You're married to the idea that all English majors are losers, and no matter how many successful writers are presented, you'll claim each and every one is a fluke. The technical term you're looking for is "confirmation bias."

> So you're a game developer too? I thought you ran a publishing company?

I do both. In fact I write books...

...that are also games!

> So what are you doing on reddit?

Eating lunch.

> Listen champ, it sounds to me like you're just a world class bullshitter.

Whatever you say, champ. Let me lean back while you wave your dick, if you don't mind.

> English majors have always and will always be playing life on "hard mode" because they chose a degree with a limited scope of employment.

Whatever makes you feel better.

> I'm not afraid of hard work.

You're afraid of English majors apparently.

> The only limit to my income is how much I feel like working and since my wife I clear well above the 6 digits, I'm fine and happy just working my 40 hours and occasional overtime.

And you're even happier if you believe all the English majors in the world are sobbing in a mud-soaked ditch somewhere. When you're doing seven figures while entertaining on a whale watching boat, then you'll be in Bella Andre and Amanda Hocking territory. When you do ten figures, then you can compare yourself to the Queen of Letters majors. Until then, how about you give people who are dedicated enough to earn what three out of four don't and who work hard enough to turn their education and talent into a career a break, huh?

Oh be warned... be warned. Such a thing does exist. When the time came to remodel my bathroom, I thought I would go all fancy like and install one of these gadgets. Got one of these with one of these to control the water. That part was not too bad. Would have been a simple connection to a classic shower head assembly.

Visions of a full decontamination shower danced through my head, however. Why not a shower head in the celling and additional heads in the wall? Next to hanging wall paper in the nursery, soldering together the bloody thing was one of the hardest challenges my 21 years of marriage survived. They show the easy part. What they don't show was the 'soldering template included for ease of installation', where you had to perfectly align four threaded pipes in a tangled copper Elder Sign. Many months later, I finally had mastered the copper pressure loop / nipple combo - everything measured out exactly and not leaking, with additional pressure loops to honor His Noodly Appendage . So far, the ward has keep the Deep Ones from ravaging my drywall. My sanity suffered greatly from dabbling this in forbidden lore.

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

Got Ds and Fs in math throughout middle/high school.

Took my first math class at the ripe age of 30 in college; could barely do simple multiplication/division so I started from the ground up by taking the most remedial course.

3 math classes later (all A+) I'm now in pre-calculus, tutoring other students, and planning to teach math at a high school or college level. Khan Academy and Pre-Algebra for Dummies by Mark Zegarelli were huge helps for getting me up to speed (which is good, because 2 out of 3 of my teachers weren't very good at teaching).

I grew up with the idea that I was "bad at math" and I internalized this idea as a "truth". I had internalized the idea to such an extent that it influenced my entire educational and professional career; I actively avoided any STEM degrees and went into law instead. I threw away my potential because of the lie/self-degradation that some people are simply "bad" at math. I wasn't bad at math; I just didn't have the tools I needed to succeed.

Today I have my choice of teachers, teacher review sites, video tutorials like Khan Academy, alternative text books, and text book reviews. I didn't have those tools as a high school student. High school math was an exercise in humiliation and debasement. I want to be a math teacher because I NEVER want another student to feel the way that I felt.



EDIT 1: Thanks for the gold stranger!

EDIT 2: Here's the book I used to prepare me for my first math class. It's a newer edition than the one I used:

https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Math-Pre-Algebra-Dummies-Zegarelli/dp/1119293634/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1481730619&sr=8-4&keywords=pre-algebra+for+dummies

As a glasses wearer and a 3d tv owner I can verify this is already reality. My LG 4k has passive 3d, same as the movie theater, which looks great but is a bear to watch for lengths of time. That is until I found 3d glasses that clip on to your glasses like sunglasses do. I bought mine on ebay but a quick search found these on amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/3D-Glasses-Circular-Polarized-Theaters/dp/B003ZU0WCI

I've been reading this book called The Power of Now which I think has helped me a lot to combat those thoughts. It was a good reminder that I am not my thoughts. It's just white noise my brain is producing. I recommend it if you guys are interested

Indeed. I do a pour over batch in a thermos in the morning.

Fills this mug three times. I drink two and my wife drinks one every morning.

My physical dependence might be a result of many years of consuming copious amount of caffeine or maybe just my own special genetic predisposition to migraines, to be fair.

I always marveled at immortality, thinking it would be neat to have a lifetime to achieve everything I wanted. After reading The Postmortal by Drew Magary, I became skeptical of it entirely. There emerged a business to kill those who had taken the cure for aging, and it's entirely corrupt. Great book, offering great perspectives on not just an infinite life, but our finite one as well.

I'll have to check that one out. After losing a couple nicer onces i went with this matte black one for 12 bucks. Had it for years and even survived a couple run throughs with the washing machine. The cap-o-matic mechanism is finally breaking, RIP.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001NXDFC8/ref=mp_s_a_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1505413251&sr=8-9&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=fisher+space+pen

I got a decent one for 100 on Amazon. You do mean something like this right?
https://www.amazon.com/Medieval-Chain-Mail-Shirt-Armor/dp/B07F95693PMedieval-Chain-Mail-Shirt-Armor/dp/B07F95693P?language=en_US

8 hour battery life, charges in under 90 minutes. 10 minutes gets me an hour or two in an emergency. Lightweight. Waterproof.

I don't understand why people still have wires. I shower with my headphones.

EDIT: Galaxy S8 checking in. I haven't used apple in years. I work indoors and carry a 20000 miliamp battery in my work/gobag. My headphones pretty much never die before my S8. I listen to a lot of podcasts and difference in sound quality is negligable.

What I use and Amazon link:

Plantronics BackBeat Fit Bluetooth Headphones
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KJLMBQQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_jpDXzb56H5FMB

I enjoyed this read. https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Zero-Mathematicians-Odyssey-Uncover/dp/1250084911

You should read the book The Postmortal. I finished it a few weeks ago and found it really good from start to finish.

good call, I hadn't thought of that. Just picked up this bad boy.

Ekhart Tolle would like a word with you...

Something like this?: https://www.amazon.com/3D-Glasses-Circular-Polarized-Theaters/dp/B003ZU0WCI

There are products that do this. Here's one on amazon

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B005ECLU2Q

Have you read The Postmortal
http://www.amazon.com/Postmortal-Drew-Magary/dp/0143119826

Already done!

Already done: The Postmortal