Another Studyblr/Gradblr

大きい (おおきい) - big

小さい (ちいさい） - small

高い (たかい) - tall/high

低い (ひくい) - short

新しい (あたらしい) - new

古い (ふるい) - old

きれい（な） (きれい)（な） - beautiful/clean

汚い (きたない) - dirty

明るい (あかるい) - bright

暗い (くらい) - dark

簡単（な） (かんたん)（な） - easy

難しい (むずかしい) - dificult

速い (はやい) - fast

遅い (おそい) - slow

a few months ago I wrote a post about transitive and intransitive verbs in Japanese grammar, but here’s a fairly comprehensive list of verb pairs in Japanese for quick reference!

format: 他動詞（たどうし）transitive verb　　・　　自動詞（じどうし）intransitive verb

-asu → -eru

出す（だす）to get out　　・　　出る（でる）to go out

逃す（にがす）to let escape　　・　　逃げる（にげる）to escape

溶かす（とかす）to melt (something)　　・　　溶ける（とける）to melt

枯らす（からす）to let wither　　・　　枯れる（かれる）to wither

-yasu → -eru

増やす（ふやす）to increase (something)　　・　　増える（ふえる）to increase

冷やす（ひやす）to cool (something)　　・　　冷える（ひえる）to cool down

生やす（はやす）to grow (something)　　・　　生える（はえる）to grow

-osu → -iru

起こす（おこす）to wake (something)　　・　　起きる（おきる）to wake

降ろす（おろす）to take down, to drop off　　・　　降りる（おりる）to descend, to get off

落とす（おとす）to let fall　　・　　落ちる（おちる）to fall

過ごす（すごす）to spend (time)　　・　　過ぎる（すぎる）to pass (time)

-asu → -u

減らす（へらす）to decrease (something)　　・　　減る（へる）to decrease

沸かす（わかす）to boil (something)　　・　　沸く（わく）to boil

乾かす（かわかす）to dry (something)　　・　　乾く（かわく）to dry

喜ばす（よろこばす）to give delight　　・　　喜ぶ（よろこぶ）to be delighted

-eru → -u

開ける（あける）to open (something)　　・　　開く（あく）to be open

届ける（とどける）to deliver (something)　　・　　届く（とどく）to reach

育てる（そだてる）to rear　　・　　育つ（そだつ）to grow up

立てる（たてる）to stand up (something)　　・　　立つ（たつ）to stand

-seru → -ru

乗せる（のせる）to let board　　・　　乗る（のる）to board

寄せる（よせる）to let near　　・　　寄る（よる）to approach

-su → -ru

返す（かえす）to bring back　　・　　返る（かえる）to return

通す（とおす）to let through　　・　　通る（とおる）to go through

回す（まわす）to turn (something)　　・　　回る（まわる）to turn

直す（なおす）to repair (something)　　・　　直る（なおる）to get repaired

渡す（わたす）to hand over　　・　　渡る（わたる）to cross

-su → -reru

離す（はなす）to separate　　・　　離れる（はなれる）to break up

外す（はずす）to release　　・　　外れる（はずれる）to disengage

倒す（たおす）to throw down　　・　　倒れる（たおれる）to tumble

汚す（よごす）to dirty　　・　　汚れる（よごれる）to become dirty

現す（あらわす）to reveal　　・　　現れる（あらわれる）to appear

壊す（こわす）to break　　・　　壊れる（こわれる）to be broken

-eru → -aru

決める（きめる）to decide　　・　　決まる（きまる）to be decided

閉める（しめる）to close (something)　　・　　閉まる（しまる）to close

集める（あつめる）to collect　　・　　集まる（あつまる）to gather

始める（はじめる）to begin (something)　　・　　始まる（はじまる）to begin

見つける（みつける）to find (something)　　・　　見つかる（みつかる）to be found

掛ける（かける）to hang (something)　　・　　掛かる（かかる）to hang

助ける（たすける）to save (something)　　・　　助かる（たすかる）to be saved

-eru → -waru

変える（かえる）to change (something)　　・　　変わる（かわる）to change

加える（くわえる）to add (something)　　・　　加わる（くわわる）to join

-u → -eru

焼く（やく）to burn (something)　　・　　焼ける（やける）to burn

売る（うる）to sell　　・　　売れる（うれる）to be sold

抜く（ぬく）to draw out　　・　　抜ける（ぬける）to come out

解く（ほどく）to loosen　　・　　解ける（ほどける）to come loose

見る（みる）to see　　・　　見える（みえる）to be visible*

* be careful with this pair! 見える (to be visible) is not the same as 見られる (to be able to see). A mountain can either be visible (見える), or you are able to see a mountain (見られる). Keep this in mind!

various others

聞く（きく）to hear　　・　　聞こえる（きこえる）to be audible

消す（けす）to delete　　・　　消える（きえる）to extinguish

入れる（いれる）to put in　　・　　入る（はいる）to enter

終える（おえる）to end (something)　　・　　終わる（おわる）to end

example sentences for comparison

見る　　vs　　見える ・外を見ると、雨が降ってる。そとをみる、あめがふってる。 　Looking outside, it is raining. ・陸が見えてきた。りくがみえてきた。 　Land came in sight.

売る　　vs　　売れる ・本を安く売った。ほんをやすくうった。 　I sold my books cheaply. ・日本車は海外でよく売れる。にほんしゃはかいがいでよくうれる。 　Japanese cars sell well overseas.

回す　　vs　　回る ・ドアの取っ手を回した。ドアのとってをまわした。 　I turned the doorknob. ・葉が空中でぐるぐる回っていた。はがくうちゅうでぐるぐるまわっていた。 　Leaves were swirling in the air.

If you’re still having trouble with transitive and intransitive verbs, just remember that transitive require something to act on something else, while intransitive verbs require action that is independent (the 自 in 自動詞 means “self; oneself”).

勉強頑張ってね！

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library They send an age appropriate book once a month if you have a child younger than 5.

Project Gutenberg Lots of free classic books.

Library Genesis A great place to look for and download college/university textbooks for free, as well as other books.

Scihub Endless Free college books. (and peer-reviewed scientific publications that are otherwise hidden behind a paywall)

Khan Academy Free knowledge that you can use to clep out of university courses, or to simply invest your time in a worthwhile topic.

Openlearn UK’s Open University - free courses for all levels of study, samples of university materials, study skills and tie-ins to BBC documentaries. Everything under Creative Commons licence so you can use it as you see fit.

Duolingo The Green Owl of Languages. There are a few hundred that it teaches and the mobile app makes it easy to do anywhere while waiting (!warning! only good for Spanish, German, French, Dutch, Esperanto, and English. with anything else it gets very low-quality and short.).

Codecademy An awesome site to learn how to use some programming languages. Doesn't get into the really advanced stuff, but it's good for a start.

Photopea Completely free Photoshop clone that has all the basic features of Photoshop, using basically the same interface.

Gimp Another free version of Photoshop.

Unsplash Stock of free photos of just about anything, provided by the photographers themselves, to do with what you like.

Futureme You can write letters to yourself (or other people) in the future! You can also make notifications and reminders of a +doctors appointments or anything else important.

Heavens Above You can look up all the satellites flying over your house tonight, including the ISS, Hubble Space Telescope, those pesky Starlink satellites, and whatever else your heart desires, complete with star maps and precise timing. And there is an Android app, but unfortunately no iOS one last I checked. (For iOS you can use “Sputnik!” which is free and tells, when ISS and Hubble passes overhead.)

Night Sky Other astronomy app for iOS. If you hold your phone to the sky the app tells you what you're looking at (or point it at the ground for a view from the other side of the planet). Zoom in with two fingers and tons of deep space stuff is revealed.

Freecycle its literally people giving away stuff they don't need/want any more that they can't/don't care enough to sell.

Nexus Mods Has thousands of video game mods (for 1,509 PC games), made by independent content creators, available to download at no cost.

Archive The Archive aka Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and so much more... For example a lot of DOS games (classics like Prince of Persia, Oregon Trail, DOOM, Monkey island, Rayman, Turtles), directly playable through the browser.

My earlier list

a) Most of my favorite books that I read within the past year were written by writers in their 30s-40s-50s+. 

b) Most of the books I read that made me think “eh, this one wasn’t ready, this one could’ve cooked a little longer”… were written by people in their early 20s.

c) I have all the time in the world. We all do. 

but it’s okay to be figuring things out! to take your own time to develop your skills! you don’t have to graduate university early or start doing intensive research the second your foot touches campus soil or publish award-winning novels before you leave your teens.

Since the topic came up yesterday, I thought I would share my tips for transcribing historical documents here. While I do have more specific tips for different points in time (medieval and early modern in particular), I am going to list some general advice that’ll help to get you started.

AVOID HEAT STRESS

If you have a laptop DO NOT use it on a soft surface like a pillow or on a blanket, it’ll block the vents on your computer and make it get really fucking hot inside.

If you have a desktop you gotta open it up and blow out the dust sometimes.

If you are moving your laptop in a bag turn the laptop off. Don’t put it to sleep, don’t just shut the screen, turn it off, because otherwise it’s in the bag generating heat and there’s nowhere for the heat to go in the bag. OFF. Not sleep. OFF.

DO NOT DROP

Okay I know that should be obvious but drop damage to your hard drive is bad bad news. Be as careful as you can to set your computer gently on flat surfaces; don’t leave it hanging out on a bed where it can get knocked off, don’t set it on the roof of your car. And yes, just dropping it a couple inches can kill your hard drive or totally shatter your screen.

DON’T PUT SHIT ON YOUR KEYBOARD

Look I’ve seen four people ruin their laptops because they had a pen on the keyboard and closed the laptop and it fucked up the screen and the keyboard and it sucks so much and you feel awful after it happens because it’s so avoidable just don’t put things on your keyboard and always check that your laptop is clear before you close it.

PROTECT YOUR PORTS ON YOUR LAPTOP

You’ve only got one power jack and a limited number of other inputs on your computer and if they detach from the motherboard you’re fucked. USB ports get damaged because people use them a lot and eventually it weakens the connection and then they just stop working and it sucks. You can get around this with USB ports by using a USB hub to connect things like your keyboard and mouse.

For your power plug you just gotta be careful. Avoid tripping over the cord at all costs, don’t yank the plug out of the computer. It will SUCK VERY MUCH A LOT if you have to buy a new computer because the power port lost contact with the motherboard.

Don’t move your computer with things plugged into it. Take the power cord off before you put your laptop in the bag, take out the USB mouse dongle, do not travel with little nubby bits sticking out of your computer that can easily get caught or get tweaked or snap off inside of the thing.

(I really can’t emphasize enough that most of the “it will cost more than it’s worth to fix this” laptops I see are because of USB ports and power jacks. People don’t seem to know that this isn’t something that can be fixed easily; a broken power jack is a “remove the motherboard and resoldier components” job, not a “plug a new one in in fifteen minutes” job and most computer repair shops aren’t going to solder things for you and if they DO it’s going to be very expensive)

RESTART YOUR SHIT AT LEAST ONCE A MONTH AND JUST LET THE FUCKING UPDATES RUN

You should probably restart more than once a month but whatever. This is actually something that I consider part of reducing heat stress because when your processor is straining to keep up with all the background bullshit that’s running from a program you opened three weeks ago it’s going to use up resources and get hot and look just restart it once in a while.

Also the updates are almost always okay and safe and generally running updates is a good and secure thing to do (though maybe follow a blog dedicated to the OS you run because if there IS a problem with the updates that blog will probably talk about it before the update gets forced on your computer)

ANTIVIRUS BULLSHIT

Yes you should probably be running an antivirus.

Sophos is free and it’s fine. But don’t pay for it - if you’re using Sophos use the free version.

If you’re looking for something paid and a little more comprehensive I recommend ESET - get the cheap version, renewals cost less than the initial purchase, and feel free to get a multi-year version, the credentials follow your email not the computer so if your computer dies before your license expires you can install the license on a new computer.

DO NOT INSTALL NORTON OR MCAFEE THEY ARE EXPENSIVE BULLSHIT. Kaspersky is whatever. It’s less bullshit than Norton or McAfee but not as good as ESET for about the same cost.

If you think you’ve got a virus run the free version of Malwarebytes and get your shit cleaned.

KEEP LIQUIDS THE FUCK AWAY FROM YOUR COMPUTER

Again this should be obvious and yet. But seriously, just make a rule for yourself that drinks aren’t allowed on the same table as your computer and you’ll save yourself a lot of headaches.

PLUG YOUR COMPUTER INTO A UPS

Okay I fucking hate amazon but here’s a thing you should be using, just search the rest of the internet for “surge protector/UPS” and you’ll find something that isn’t from amazon - APC is a solid brand for this.

Basically you want a fat surge protector that has a little bit of a battery backup and you want to plug your computer (desktop OR laptop) into that instead of into the wall. The benefit of this is twofold:

1) if there’s a power surge the UPS will prevent your computer’s power supply from getting fried and possibly frying parts of your motherboard

2) if there’s a power outage and you’re *at* your computer you’ll have enough time to save what you’re working on before your computer loses power (like, you’ll maybe only have a minute or two on a small UPS but that’s still time to hit CTRL+S and keep from losing work)

At a bare, bare minimum your computer should be plugged into a surge protector but NOT directly into the wall.

BACK YOUR SHIT UP

[we interrupt this yelling for me to tell you that Western Digital has apparently released their new My Passport line and I’m obligated to inform you that you can get a 2.5″ USB 3.0 backup drive with FIVE FUCKING TERABYTES OF STORAGE for $130. Or you can get 4TB for $93. Or you can get 1TB for $53. basically what I’m saying is that it is not only cheap computer season it is also cheap hard drive season.]

[also if you’re getting a backup drive get western digital not seagate seagate fucking sucks and has a much higher failure rate]

Uh, okay, anyway - Do an image backup of your computer every once in a while so that if you get infected or your hard drive dies or whatever you can just restore from backup and move on like nothing happened.

HERE’S HOW TO DO AN IMAGE BACKUP.

SAVE YOURSELF THE WEAR AND TEAR

You know what is cheap? USB Keyboards and USB mice. You know what is not cheap? Fixing the touchpad on a laptop or replacing a laptop keyboard.

Get yourself a USB hub, a USB Keyboard and a USB Mouse (wired or wireless, doesn’t matter) and if you’re using your laptop at home plug *that* into your computer.

Also if your keyboard on your laptop breaks it’s fine just to use a USB keyboard instead I promise; if the screen breaks it’s also usually cheaper and easier to get a used or inexpensive monitor than it is to replace the screen. Your laptop is basically just a very small version of whatever bullshit is going on inside a desktop, if the peripherals break but the core components are fine you can just use it like a desktop.

Unless it’s a piece of shit that doesn’t have any USB ports or video out in which case you got ripped off, friend, demand functionality in your devices I’m sorry.

Learn Kanji by radicals instead of by strokes

Kanji is made up of parts called radicals. If you learn by strokes you will sometimes have over 15 strokes. But if you learn the radicals, kanji becomes much more simple. Radicals are like building blocks and you only need 2-4 to put together a kanji. But it is still important to know how to write kanji in proper stroke order.

1. What is the culture of this job like and how does the company try to be inclusive or is inclusivity important to the company?

2. Tell me about what you like and least like about the company you work for. (yes this is appropriate to ask because if they hate the company you dont want to work for them)

3. What is the work life balance of this job/company? (you dont want to work 90 hours a week and be texted/emailed after hours. Please ask this question)

4. Is this position new or why did the position open up? (if someone quit or left it might be a red flag but if they got promoted or went to a new position thats a good sign that you can move up)

5. What is a reason why you stayed with the company as long as you have? (great benefits? Great culture? things to think about)

6. Will there be opportunities to be on projects with others? (not sure about this one but at the company I work for currently there are group projects to improve tools and aspects of the company so I will ask this at my interview)

7. What re the goals of the company/team I am interviewing for in the long term? (you want to know how active the job is what the company is striving for and if there will be any big changes coming up in the company. If restructuring then your job isn’t safe in the long run)

timeblocking: the ultimate planning method

Absolute beginner adult ballet series (fabulous beginning teacher)

40 piano lessons for beginners (some of the best explanations for piano I’ve ever seen)

Excellent basic crochet video series

Basic knitting (probably the best how to knit video out there)

Pre-Free Figure Skate Levels A-D guides and practice activities (each video builds up with exercises to the actual moves!)

How to draw character faces video (very funny, surprisingly instructive?)

Another drawing character faces video

Literally my favorite art pose hack

Tutorial of how to make a whole ass Stardew Valley esque farming game in Gamemaker Studios 2??

Introduction to flying small aircrafts

French/Dutch/Fishtail braiding

Playing the guitar for beginners (well paced and excellent instructor)

Playing the violin for beginners (really good practical tips mixed in)

Color theory in digital art (not of the children’s hospital variety)

Retake classes you hated but now there’s zero stakes:

Calculus 1 (full semester class)

Learn basic statistics (free textbook)

Introduction to college physics (free textbook)

Introduction to accounting (free textbook)

Learn a language:

Ancient Greek

Latin

Spanish

German

Japanese (grammar guide) (for dummies)

French

1. Organize your study space

Organizing your study space is really important. Avoid starting to study before that because getting up to get things you don’t have at hand will distract you. I have my own “desk organization list”. Laptop, iPad, Apple Pencil, earphones, water, fruits, my pencil case, my folders, paper, etc.

2.     Make a plan and get control of your calendar

Make a "to do list" and plan everything out. When exactly are your exams?  How many days do you want to study for each subject? Which subject needs more time? Etc., etc.

3.     Mistakes are good

When studying we do make mistakes sometimes. I hate it. You hate it. Yes, it’s awful. But they are GOOD. You learn from them. A short anecdote of my life: If I didn’t make the mistake of dating a complete idiot, I probably would not have learned that bad boys really aren’t that great haha.

4.     Find examples

To really understand something, you should find examples. E. g. if you are learning about some kind of criminal law, look up cases. If you are studying about the business cycle, look up examples of different countries. Is the US in a boom? Or a depression? Has it been in a depression before? What was that like?

5.     Test yourself

Quizz yourself. This is the most important thing when studying something by heart or learning a language. Get your flashcards out of your pocket!  And quizz yourself every single day!

6.     Take regular breaks and sleep for 8 hours

I know, studying is important. But what is even more important is your health. Don’t drain yourself. You got this. Don’t worry! Take a short break after 25 minutes every time. Just a short one. Allow yourself to breath and close your eyes. Your brain needs sleep and breaks to function!

7.     Study before going to sleep

A numerous amount of studies have found out that the brain processes a lot of things while sleeping. This can be very beneficial to us! Study for a few minutes before going to bed or revise what you have studied that day. It will help you remember it better.

8.     Eat good foods

I know you don’t want to hear this… A pizza is quite nice. But is it good for you? Probably not. Food is fuel. But we need good fuel to function properly. Eat nutritious foods and be good to your body. It really needs a healthy diet to maintain your health and stay happy. Also: Your brain needs calories. Don’t starve yourself. Aaaand, remember to drink enough water. I recommend watching “The Game Changers” on Netflix.

9.     Exercise

Working out can be extremely beneficial to you. Not just for your physical strength but also for your mental health and productivity, studies have found. Going for a run or going to the gym can increase your overall well-being! So let’s go! I’m getting ripped tonight, RIP that… umm sorry.

10.  Be kind to yourself

Last but not least, please be kind to yourself. Don’t beat yourself up. Everything is going to be fine. You are not alone. You are loved. You are worthy. Please remember that! I love you.

Feel free to join my #selfhelpforstudents100Days challenge (aka me doing the 100 Days of Productivity Challenge and motivating y'all haha).

Also feel free to join our study/mental health server on Discord. We’re doing self help “group therapy” calls, studying together and much more. We’re stronger together!

We are currently working on a website to help students with studying and mental health issues. My post about it.