Recently started using mail merge.
Combined it with some vba scripting(didn’t learn it well, just found some scripts on the net and modified them a bit) so that I could get pdf files for emailing by clicking a macro button from an excel sheet.
Also, go to use the info about the keyboard mouse right click button when someone’s Right Mouse Button was not working. https://www.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Windows-Right-Click-Button.jpg
I mentioned only computer things because of recency, but please do share your experiences in other topics too.
Helping others when you need help, because eventually it’ll become so easy that you can even help yourself.
For people with physical jobs, try a little weight lifting. You don’t have to be the best or lift super heavy weights for it to be useful.
It’s one thing to have signs up at work reminding you to lift with your knees. It’s another thing to really learn, through constant practice, how to move your body safely, and activate muscles you never thought about. You won’t need signs to remind you, and you’re less likely to lift something stupidly and fuck up your joints even if you’re in a hurry, because correct technique will be burnt into your brain.
I know it’s not exactly obscure knowledge but a lot of people don’t bother unless they’ve got some kind of body goal. I’ve found it to be an educational experience even if I’m not a bodybuilder.
When an online conversation is getting too heated, stop responding for a while. Give everyone a chance to calm down and get perspective.
As anyone who recognizes this username knows, I always try to help teach the merits of Marxism, which I believe is more useful than ever these days in analyzing the world around us and what we need to do to fix it. I can give anyone here a good introductory reading list or answer any questions, if anyone wants that.
I also have taught soldering to a couple people.
i’d love a reading list! i have read a bit of marxist-inspired thought but never much marxism itself
“Without Revolutionary theory, there can be no Revolutionary Movement.”
- Vladimir Lenin, What is to be Done? | Audiobook
It’s time to read theory, comrades! As Lenin says, “Despair is typical of those who do not understand the causes of evil, see no way out, and are incapable of struggle.” Marxism-Leninism is broken into 3 major components, as noted by Lenin in his pamphlet The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism: | Audiobook
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Dialectical and Historical Materialism
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Critique of Capitalism along the lines of Marx’s Law of Value
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Advocacy for Revolutionary and Scientific Socialism
As such, I created the following list to take you from no knowledge whatsoever of Marxism, and leave you with a strong understanding of the critical fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism in an order that builds on itself over time. Let’s get reading!
Section I: Getting Started
- Friedrich Engels’ Principles of Communism | Audiobook
The go-to FAQ of Communism. Quick to read, and easy to reference if you ever want to clear up a misconception you see or have.
- Michael Parenti’s Blackshirts and Reds | Audiobook
Breaks down fascism and its mortal enemy, communism, and their antagonistic relationship. Understanding what fascism is, where and when it rises, why it appears, and how to banish it forever is critical. It also helps debunk common anti-Communist myths, from both the “left” and the right.
Section II: Historical and Dialectical Materialism
- Georges Politzer’s Elementary Principles of Philosophy | Audiobook
By far my favorite primer on Marxist philosophy. By understanding DiaMat first, you make it easier to understand the rest of Marxism. Marxist states have historically taught Dialectical and Historical Materialism before Political Economy for that very reason.
- Friedrich Engels’ Socialism: Utopian and Scientific | Audiobook
Further reading on DiaMat, but crucially introduces the why of Scientific Socialism, essentially explaining how Capitalism itself preps the conditions for public ownership and planning by centralizing itself into monopolist syndicates.
Section III: Political Economy
- Karl Marx’s Wage Labor and Capital | Audiobook as well as Wages, Price and Profit | Audiobook
Best taken as a pair, these essays simplify the most important parts of the Law of Value.
- Vladimir Lenin’s Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism | Audiobook
Absolutely crucial and the most important work for understanding the modern era and its primary contradictions.
Section IV: Revolutionary and Scientific Socialism
- Rosa Luxemburg’s Reform or Revolution | Audiobook
If Marxists believed reforming Capitalist society was possible, we would be the first in line for it. Sadly, it isn’t possible, which Luxemburg proves in this monumental writing.
- Vladimir Lenin’s The State and Revolution | Audiobook
Excellent refutation of revisionists and Social Democrats who think the State can be reformed, and not replaced.
Section V: Intersectionality and Solidarity
- Vikky Storm and Eme Flores’ The Gender Accelerationist Manifesto | (No Audiobook yet)
Critical reading on understanding misogny, transphobia, and homophobia, as well as how to move beyond. Uses the foundations built up in the previous works to analyze gender theory from a Historical Materialist perspective.
- Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth | Audiobook
Decolonialism is essential to Marxism. Without having a strong, decolonial, internationalist stance, we have no path to victory nor a path to justice.
- Leslie Feinberg’s Lavender & Red | Audiobook
Solidarity and intersectionality are the key to any social movement. We cannot fight alone, social movements are intertwined with each other and liberatory movements everywhere.
Section VI: Putting it into Practice!
- Mao Zedong’s On Practice and On Contradiction | Audiobook
Mao wrote simply and directly, targeting peasant soldiers during the Revolutionary War in China. This pair of essays equip the reader with the ability to apply the analytical tools of Dialectical Materialism to their every day practice, and better understand problems.
Congratulations, you completed your introductory reading course!
You are now educated on the fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism, and are equipped to do your own Marxist-Leninist analysis, comrade! Don’t think you can stop here, though. To be a revolutionary is to be a constant student, to be industrious, to have solidarity, to test theory and meet it with practice. Our struggle is a winnable one!
Next, I would continue to read intersectional theory. Leslie Feinberg’s Trans Liberation: Beyond Pink or Blue, J. Sakai’s Settlers: The Mythology of the White Proletariat and Juno Mac and Molly Smith’s Revolting Prostitutes are all excellent next steps in your journey. I cannot stress the importance of solidarity, intersectionalism, and internationalism enough. Understanding each other and fighting for marginalized groups is the heart of our movement.
“Everything under heaven is in utter chaos; the situation is excellent.”
- Mao Zedong
This may seem basic, but I think some people really need it. I have a hard time remembering things like birthdays and such. So I make sure to add people’s birthdays into their contact info on my phone. Then it will show up on my calendar as a different color and I can see it coming up and actively try to be on top of it instead of it passing and feeling guilty for forgetting. Maybe you don’t care about everyone’s birthday in your life, but I at least try to add my friends and family so I can reach out to them or try to remember to send a gift to little ones that are far away, etc.
Downloading and sharing files with a bittorrent client. Only wish there was a simple website explaining it ELI5 style.
