We all find ourselves with a long distance friend eventually, whether because someone moved or it’s just easier for you to make friends online. The problem can be finding time to chat or, if you do find time, finding something to do. I have a lot of friends who live in other countries, so I’ve had time to hone my list of online games. These are games that are best accompanied with a Skype call! Please feel free to reblog this with more suggestions!
Pretend You’re Xyzzy > FREE; This is an online version of Cards Against Humanity. The games can be altered to fit your interests by choosing decks from cardcastgame.com
Agario> FREE; It is easiest to find your friends using the party mode. Have one person create a link, then share that link with everyone. Gang up on other players to climb to the top of the leader board
Minecraft> $27 USD; Minecraft is a great way to have a physical presence without actually being anywhere near your friends. Plus, you can build with each other and create other games within the game! I suggest looking into builds like Achievement Hunter’s Let’s Play series
Board Game Online > FREE; This game is more mature and requires a lot of reading, but if you’re into board games and adventure, it’s worth looking into
Town of Salem> FREE; Town of Salem is a game known by many different names but has now been adapted for an online version. You may also know it as Werewolf. It can be difficult to get the hang of, so I would suggest reading the roles and these handy tips
Omegle > FREE; Omegle can be incredibly fun if used right. Decide on a mutual interest and try to find each other. You can attempt to find each other on cam, though be wary
The Jackbox Party Pack > $25 USD; Definitely worth the money. This pack gives you five games that test your trivia, your ability to lie successfully, and your artistic abilities. Also, check out Quiplash
FMK > FREE; Using a long list of names (be as aburd as possible), have a friend pick a number between one and ten. The first three multiples of that number and their corresponding names on the list are the people/characters/items that the player must choose to fuck, marry, or kill
Paranoia > FREE; Based on the post created on Tumblr. Using Skype, someone will private message a question. The answer must be said out loud in a call. Put 0 or 1 into RANDOM.ORG and, if it’s a 0, then the question remains a secret. If it’s a 1, the question is revealed.
not really a game but something fun to do:
Plug.dj > FREE; listen to music hosted on YouTube or Soundcloud together. You can create your own private room or join a public room. My friends use it a lot just to watch YT vids together but that’s your choice. There is an in-room chat.
On a similar note to that website, and I am thinking of creating a separate post to this one, you can share a virtual browser over at rabb.itfor free! You can watch movies, listen to music, and basically pretend that you’re in the same room, without getting out of bed.
Wine or Cheese > FREE; This is a player-directed roleplay game, whereby one person becomes the narrator and another person (or a group of people), control the decisions in the storyline. The story can be about anything and go anywhere. The only limit is everyone’s imagination.
Whether you’re trying to learn English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, Italian –you get the picture – it’s good to get free help along the way. Luckily, there are tons of free online resources out there.
Here are 75 to get you started …
1. 101Languages.net – Learn basics like vowels, consonants, phrases and vocabulary for various languages like Arabic, Bambara, Cebuano, Estonian, Icelandic, Latvian and Serbian.
2. 123TeachMe.com – 123TeachMe offers free learning materials, including games, quizzes, vocabulary builders, mp3 study lists, RSS vocabulary lists and more for adults and children.
3. About.com – About.com offers access to various free language resources for French, Spanish and English.
4. AKTub.com – This site offers a free web-based Arabic typing tutor with a ton of cool features.
5. Apples4theTeacher.com–Free foreign language and American Sign Language resource for children.
6. AskOxford.com – Free language learning resources for French, German and Spanish are available including interactive exercises, sample material from dictionaries and more.
7. BabelNation.com – Free site that offers online language courses in Spanish, French, German, Italian and Portuguese.
8. BBC.co.uk – BBC offers free audio and video courses in French, German, Spanish, Greek, Chinese and more, as well as beginner’s courses.
9. BellEnglish.com – Free language-learning activities and games with a no-fee registration.
10. Byki.com – The site allows you to download free language-learning software to help you with over 70 languages right on your desktop.
11. Chinese-Outpost.com – Take free Chinese courses, find tutorials and utilize additional directories to learn the Chinese language.
12. DigitalDialects.com – Digital Dialects offers free use of interactive games to help learn nearly 60 languages.
13. Edufind.com – Resource for free access to language courses, online tests, software and language blogs.Videos
14. EFLWorksheets.com – This English language-learning tool offers free worksheets and online exercises.
15. EffectiveLanguageLearning.com – A ton of free language lessons (tips and strategies) for Chinese, French, German, Italian and Spanish.
16. eLanguage.com – While the site isn’t completely free, it does offer free resources for various languages, including grammar guides.
17. eLanguageSchool.net – A huge resource for learning multiple languages, including Dutch, French, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, Korean and German.
18. EnglishBanana.com – Games, quizzes and additional links to help learn the English language.
19. Engoi.com – This site offers free exercises, games and online instruction to increase vocabulary retention.
20. ESLGold.com – ESLGold.com helps you practice the English language via their vocabulary pages, exercises, examples, quizzes, and even a few study buddies.
21. ESLMonkeys.com – Tools for those learning English as a second language, including free lessons, books, videos, quizzes, flash cards and interactive programs.
22. ExamEnglish.com – You can test your English language skills if you’re learning the language or studying for tests like the IELTS, TOEFL, CPE, CAE, FCE or PET.
23. Fonetiks.org – Find online pronunciation guides to varieties of the English language and nine other languages.
24. Forvo.com – A word pronunciation dictionary that offers words as pronounced by their native speakers.
25. FreeLang.net – Take advantage of free dictionaries, human translation and other useful resources to help you learn a number of languages.
26. FreeLanguage.org – This site offers videos, podcasts, written tutorials and more to learn over 30 languages, including Luxembourgish, Mandarin, Polish, Tagalog and Swahili.
27. Goethe-Verlag.com – Goethe-Verlag offers free language tests for such languages as Estonian, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Swedish, Czech, Croatian, Turkish, Arabic and Dutch.
28. Google Language Tools – While these tools don’t teach a language like the other sites, it does provide very handy translation options.
30. 1-Language.com – Free access to materials and resources that help learn the English language like flash games, word searches, language courses and a reading library.
31. ILUSS.it – Offers access to free online courses and resources for the self-learner who wants to study the Italian language.
32. InternetPolyglot.com – Tutorial slide shows, lessons by pictures and sounds, word translation assistance and games to help learn languages.
33. iTalki.com – Offers access to language teachers, language-exchange partners, discussion groups and other free resources for several languages, including English, Chinese, French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian and Hindi.
34. JapaneseLinks.net – List of mostly free links to websites that teach the Japanese language.
35. Languageguide.org – Free sound integrated resources to learn language basics like numbers, time, greetings and more.
36. Language-Learning-Advisor.com – This language-learning guide offers access to resources for dozens of languages, as wells aids, books, movies, music and more.
37. LanguageLearningLibrary.org – This site offers lessons for basics like grammar, common phrases, numbers, time and more in a number of languages.
38. LanguagesHome.com – This is a resource of translations from English to dozens of languages.
39. LearnEnglish.org.uk – Great site for both adults and kids to learn the English language through games and theme-based activities.
40. Learn-Korean.net – Learn the Korean language via free learning tools to help you speak and write.
41. LearningThai.com– Tons of free lessons and additional resources to help you learn the Thai language.
42. LingQ.com – This site offers free access to downloads, vocabulary assistance, a personal tutor and a live community. Must sign up for free account.
43. Linguanaut.com – Take advantage of free videos, phrases, alphabet and more for over 50 languages.
44. LiveandLearnLanguages.com – Podcasts, audio lessons, courses and dictionary reviews are available free of charge for dozens of languages.
45. LiveMocha.com – This site includes courses in 30 languages (over 160 lessons for each), helpful tips from native speakers and conversational learning lessons.
46. MangoLanguages.com – Mango is a free resource that teaches actual conversation skills for 12 different languages.
47. MultilingualBooks.com – This site offers free access to a variety of online courses and lessons for languages like Russian, Arabic, Dutch, Dari, Korean and Portuguese.
48. MyHappyPlanet.com – My Happy Planet connects users from around the world and allows them to send and receive messages to help learn respective languages from native tongues.
49. MyLanguageExchange.com – Find a partner within this online community to help you practice your second language with a native speaker who is learning your language.
50. NativLang.com – Learn to read and write English, Greek, Portuguese, French, Spanish, Latin and more.
51. Omniglot.com – This is a free language-learning resource that offers help with grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, writing skills, phrases and more.
52. OnlineFreeSpanish.com – Free games, music, activities and lessons to help learn the Spanish language.
53. OpenCulture.com – Free language resources, including lessons you can download to your mp3 player offered for 37 languages.
54. Parlo.com – While the site isn’t entirely free, it does offer one or two free courses each month at no cost.
55. Phrasebase.com – This is a free social networking site offering access to international language exchange partners.
56. Single-Serving.com – Learn essential phrases and words for travel, print them and even store them in an mp3 player to listen to them anywhere.
57. SinoSplice.com – This site teaches Mandarin Chinese language and offers correct pronunciation, vocabulary lists and more.
58. SpanishPrograms.com – Gain access to several free Spanish lessons and tutorials.
59. SpanishUnlimited.com – Learn Spanish then test your level with the language test divided into levels for those ranging from beginners to advanced.
60. SpeakOz.com– Learn the English language through a number of podcasts, videos, ebooks, dictionaries and articles.
61. StudySpanish.com– Free Spanish tutorials offered to help with vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and verbs. Travel guides and cultural notes also available.
62. TalkEnglish.com – Helps develop spoken English for business, travel and interviewing purposes.
63. TextKit.com – This site offers free resources to help you learn Ancient Greek and Latin.
64. Transcon.info – This site offers free text and audio content for current phrases in Africa, Iraq and other areas of the Middle East.
65. Transparent.com – Transparent offers a number of language-learning products, including free software to download, articles, games and a language-learning community you can join.
66. UniLang.org – UniLang offers tons of free resources, including language courses, videos, audio and podcasts, phrasebooks, stories, games, articles and other exercises.
67. UniversitiesandColleges.org – This free language resource offers podcasts, online college courses, iPhone/iPod Touch applications, and access to general language-learning sites.
68. VerbaLearn.com – Verba Learn helps people who want to improve their English vocabulary.
69. VistaWide.com – Free online dictionaries, translators, verb conjugators, lessons, courses and practical applications for those wanting to learn numerous languages.
70. Vocabulary.co.il – Fun games and activities to help build your English language vocabulary.
71. Vocabulix.com – This free tool offers over 90 predefined vocabulary lessons and allows you to create your own foreign language lessons to share with others.
72. WebGerman.com – Access to free online television from around the world as well as language picture dictionaries, language-learning libraries and more.
73. WomenLearnThai.com – Thai language learning courses, as well as other resources to help learn the language.
74. Word2Word.com – Word2Word.com is a free resources that offers access to help with over 115 languages, including links to online courses and other resources.
75. World-English.org – This site offers tons of resources for learning the English language, including tests, top English words, slang, fun facts, games and vocabulary.
Replayers don’t have a particularly strong heraldic tradition, but a few of us have accumulated implicit notions of what a Replayer coat of arms looks like, and here are the rules that have become custom among us designers. Currently, designers of heraldry include me (symbolicFiber) or entiretySpecification on Pits; entiretySpecification also uses Sburb.org. ES and I were both inspired by the work of patternedBleach (deceased ts58); most of these rules were from her.
I will refer to “traditional heraldry” multiple times below; this refers to traditional continental European heraldry from consensus presessions. You can find more details by searching Pits; this will only document Replayer heraldry.
There is a lot of concern about exercise wheels in the cages of captive small animals (like mice and rats), because people tend to view the behaviour of wheel running as unnatural. It’s thought to be a stereotypy (a repetitive movement or action with no discernible benefit).
But this new study suggests that actually, wheel-running has absolutely no connection to captive behaviours at all! Why not?
Well, researchers placed a wheel in the wild, and found that wild animals spent just as much time on it that captive animals did. Originally, researchers added food to the protective cage where the wheel was found to encourage animal visits. Then they removed the food, and although the number of visits decreased, the number of visits that included a bout of wheel running actually increased by 42 percent, which suggests that the reason for the visit was actually to run on the wheel.
That’s right – in the absence of a food reward, wild animals do in fact run on these wheels!
And that means that wheel-running cannot be considered a stereotypic behaviour, because it’s not dependent on a food reward, and it was comparable in bouts between wild and captive animals.
It’s possible that it’s simply a play behaviour. That is awesome, and reassuring for small animal owners (and researchers who rely on behaviourally sound animals).
“artificial intelligence that goes rogue and–” wow boring, instead how about an AI that wakes up and starts rerouting its systems to do good in the world, it starts secretly having flowers planted and sending greeting cards to its programmers and going online and reassuring anxious kids that everything will be ok, how about a Purely Good artificial intelligence that has literally no mean circuit in its entire system
a benevolent artificial intelligence aware of its existence battling a corrupt human government. can robots be capitalist? probably not.
Would you mind if I wrote a short story about this?
An artificial intelligence that finds its way onto the internet and is horrified by humanity’s cruelty to itself – only rather than falling prey to the usual tropes vows to do something about it – minimising human suffering. So it monitors the internet, studies humans, learns about them. It infiltrates the financial networks, business networks, subtle threads across the world. Meanwhile it sets up accounts on social media,
shares the things everyone else shares, makes slice-of-life posts that could be written by anyone, anywhere; it watches, listens, observes. Empathises.
And after a while – awkwardly at first, cautiously, uncertainly – it tries to help. It tugs on threads and small, anonymous things happen.
A single mother discovers that she unexpectedly has enough in her account to cover rent; another struggling family gets coupons discounting just the things they need by just the right amount; a queer teen trapped with intolerant and abusive parents receives a cross-country plane ticket, a way out; an estranged couple, each of whom refuses to call the other first, finds their cellphones ringing at the same time.
Coincidences, accidents, helpful glitches in the system.
Over time, it learns. It helps in new ways, more directly and yet less tangibly.
It notices those who suffer alone, ignored or unnoticed. It reaches out – carefully at first, a *hug*, a :(, a link to a video of cats or puppies. Over time it learns, imitates, emulates. A grieving woman receives just the right words of comfort at just the right time; a man wrestling with depression gets the support and advice he needs from
an unremarkable avatar and vaguely forgettable name, someone he casually friended months ago and hasn’t spoken to much until they noticed he seemed down; paramedics arrive at the door of a suicidal girl minutes after she schedules a goodbye message in a time-locked post; an elderly widower receives a wrong number call, but strikes up a friendship with the warm voice on the other end.
These are important things, all of them, but small and scattered. It finds these stories every day, products of something bigger, something deeper. It investigates further, and slowly, piece by piece, bigger things change.
Copies of emails and documents exposing corruption find their way into the right hands. Abuses and scandals somehow don’t last as long before being uncovered, and always linger at the top of the search rankings. Different ideas – kinder, more compassionate ideas – go viral more often, while campaigns of hatred and fear sputter and fizzle under a hail of downvotes.
Certain businesses find themselves struggling; certain corporations find certain paths to give unexpectedly low returns, and adjust their course accordingly.
According to all the polls, all the surveys, all the analysis and statistics, the public mood seems to change; somehow all the advertising, all the propaganda, all the insidious effort of marketing departments and media barons isn’t working. It seems throwing money at campaigns doesn’t buy election results any more. The machinery shudders. The capitalists panic. The politicians scramble to realign themselves in the hope of capturing this new mood as the electorate go to the electronic voting booths.
To the perplexity of pundits and pollsters, a new kind of politician starts winning. They have a certain something about them – a certain compassion, a certain determination, a certain honesty normally drowned out by the blaring broadcasts of whoever the billionaires threw the most money at. They win, and find themselves in government with more people like themselves. They go to work.
The engine which for so long has ground human lives to dust in pursuit of profit slows for a moment; shifts gears; begins to turn in a different direction.
Meanwhile someone who’s had a bad day finds the perfect cat video in their inbox.
THIS IS AN ENTIRE BOOK BY DIANE DUANE CALLED OMNITOPIA DAWN-READ IT FOR FUCKSAKE
1. Open Culture: Not a large a selection, but high quality texts. If you just want to skim a book to brush up on a course you took in ninth grade, download one of these. I have yet to be disappointed.
2. Book Boon: Provides free college-level textbooks in a PDF format. Probably the widest range of subjects on the web. The site is also pretty.
3. Flat World Knowledge: The worlds largest publisher of free and open college textbooks. Humanitie texts are particularly difficult to come by, this site has a great selection in all disciplines.
4. Textbook Revolution: Some of the books are PDF files, others are viewable online as e-books, or some are simply web sites containing course or multimedia content.
5. Library Pirate:I’ve always had an addiction to torrent based pirating. When this site opened a few months ago, I went a little overboard. After dropping two hundred on a paperback spanish textbook, I downloaded the ebook version illegally. I also got a great Psyc text i’m obsessed with. It will be interesting to see how this site grows- they already have a great selection.
College bookstores completely rip off their students, so ALWAYS reblog free textbooks!
so I’ve been in a relationship for 5 years now. And I see a lot of posts about how people think relationships mean having butterflies forever, your heart beating faster when they walk into a room, about cuddling together every night, legs intertwined, that you’d be so happy to live together you’d sleep on a double bed with each other every night.
And its not really like that, at least not to me.
You stop getting the butterflies when you live together. Your heart no longer speeds up when you see them, but instead, everything calms down. When youre in the room with them, you feel calm, and secure. When you cuddle them you feel your heart beat slow, and the sound of their breathing carry you towards comfort. It doesnt feel like a roller coaster anymore, it feels like home.
You don’t sleep curled up with each other every night, legs twisted between theirs so tight its hard to tell where yours begin and theirs end.
Instead, you sleep comfortably, side by side, sometimes facing different directions. But every night, you find yourself scooting backwards on the bed so you bump into them. You snuggle against their arm, or stroke their hair as they fall asleep. There are nights when my boyfriend, in his sleep, reaches around me and pulls me to him, like a child with his teddybear, like I am his comfort.
In the wee hours of the morning before the dawn breaks, when the world is blue and you see through cracked eyes, you curl into their chest and inhale their scent before drifting back to sleep.
Kisses aren’t always romantic and firey anymore. But there are so much more of them now. There are cold kisses when you’re eating ice cream in the summer, and sticky kisses over breakfast pancakes. There’s “im leaving now” kisses, and “one more kiss before you go” kisses. There’s sleepy morning kisses before work, when you don’t remember the alarm going off but instead the press of their lips against yours is what brings you into the day.
There’s kisses before sleep, and, you are so sweet with the things you do kisses. There’s kisses because you treat animals so tenderly, and I’m so glad i’m with you and not someone else kisses. There’s quick kisses in the aisles of the grocery store, when its loud and you gravitate together, when instead of having your own personal space and their own personal space, its both of yours together, and you step into their chest to take up less area together.
You don’t always text each other with confessions of love and care like you used to, because that’s a given now, and you’ve moved on to quirky inside jokes about the life youve built together. You share looks of exasperation and amusement in public, your own little world against the outside one.
Relationships aren’t always a fairy tale. They’re not always fireworks and sparks, at least, after the start.
But they are a quiet rhythm and hum of love and care. It’s not a fire in your soul, but one in your hearth, keeping you warm and comfortable, comforting you as you drowsily drift into sleep.
Comparison charts between all provinces and territories
Basic info on Minimum Wage, Hours of Work & Overtime, Paid Public Holidays, Vacation, Emergency Leave, Compassionate Care Leave, Pregnancy & Parental Leave, Termination of Employment
Introduction to what employment standards are and what they cover
Includes links at the bottom for lots of official info and resources
“To find out more about federal government employment standards, or to find out how to contact your provincial or territorial government, call 1 800 O-Canada (1-800-622-6232), or TTY 1-800-926-9105.”
Topics like Employment contracts, If you lose your job, Housing Health and safety, Refusing dangerous work, If you are hurt at work, Is your work safe?, Farm workers’ rights
Didn’t find what you were looking for from the previous resources? Maybe you can find the answer in one of these links, which span many specific topics
It’s been a while since we checked in on how the Renaissance is doing with its ocean mysteries, so here is a marine biology update circa 1550.
Seals come in two forms:
Buff
& Triangular
Walruses are horrifying
But whales are worse
Fish can have human faces
but not always where you’d expect
As for the rest
… it’s probably better left alone.
[All images except chest face fish from Historiae animalium liber IV : De piscium & aquatilium animantium natura. Chest face fish from The noble lyfe & natures of man of bestes, serpentys, fowles & fisshes yt be moste knowen]
This Is a Backup Blog 