How I Am Planning On Going From A2 To B2 Spanish In 4 Months

Birches. The Boys’ and Girls’ Readers: Seventh Reader. 1926. 

Internet Archive

link to free pdfs

I’ve been collecting pdfs over the years and I put them all in this google drive folder. I divided them into literature and theory and then by language: english, spanish, basque, italian, portuguese, turkish, russian and french.

anarchism | black people & liberation | capitalism | colonialism (& gender) | disability | economics | education, pedagogy | feminism (& marxism, womanism) | health, eating disorders, fat studies | history, biography | imperialism | incarceration | judaism | leftism, antifascism | lgbt, sexuality, gender | linguistics | marxian economics | marxism | mlm/maoism | palestine & israel | philosophy, sociology | postcolonialism | psychiatry | psychology | race, racism | translation (& lgbt issues & colonialism) | turkey

last updated: 17 january 2021

I want to live by myself when I move out of my parent's place but I'm really afraid of money problems? I'm afraid that the only place I can afford will be in the ghetto and it'll all be torn apart and I'll only be allowed to eat one granola bar a week. I'm really stressing out about this. I don't know anything about after school life. I don't know anything about paying bills or how to buy an apartment and it's really scaring me. is there anything you know that can help me?

HI darling,

I’ve actually got a super wonderful masterpost for you to check out:

Home

what the hell is a mortgage?

first apartment essentials checklist

how to care for cacti and succulents

the care and keeping of plants

Getting an apartment

Money

earn rewards by taking polls

how to coupon

what to do when you can’t pay your bills

see if you’re paying too much for your cell phone bill

how to save money

How to Balance a Check Book

How to do Your Own Taxes

Health

how to take care of yourself when you’re sick

things to bring to a doctor’s appointment

how to get free therapy

what to expect from your first gynecologist appointment

how to make a doctor’s appointment

how to pick a health insurance plan

how to avoid a hangover

a list of stress relievers

how to remove a splinter

Emergency

what to do if you get pulled over by a cop

a list of hotlines in a crisis

things to keep in your car in case of an emergency

how to do the heimlich maneuver

Job

time management

create a resume

find the right career

how to pick a major

how to avoid a hangover

how to interview for a job

how to stop procrastinating

How to write cover letters

Travel

ULTIMATE PACKING LIST

Traveling for Cheap

Travel Accessories

The Best Way to Pack a Suitcase

How To Read A Map

How to Apply For A Passport

How to Make A Travel Budget

Better You

read the news

leave your childhood traumas behind

how to quit smoking

how to knit

how to stop biting your nails

how to stop procrastinating

how to stop skipping breakfast

how to stop micromanaging

how to stop avoiding asking for help

how to stop swearing constantly

how to stop being a pushover

learn another language

how to improve your self-esteem

how to sew

learn how to embroider

how to love yourself

100 tips for life

Apartments/Houses/Moving

Moving Out and Getting an Apartment, Part 1: Are You Sure? (The Responsible One)

Moving Out and Getting an Apartment, Part 2: Finding the Damn Apartment (The Responsible One)

Moving Out and Getting an Apartment, Part 3: Questions to Ask about the Damn Apartment (The Responsible One)

Moving Out and Getting an Apartment, Part 4: Packing and Moving All of Your Shit (The Responsible One)

How to Protect Your Home Against Break-Ins (The Responsible One)

Education

How to Find a Fucking College (The Sudden Adult)

How to Find Some Fucking Money for College (The Sudden Adult)

What to Do When You Can’t Afford Your #1 Post-Secondary School (The Sudden Adult)

Stop Shitting on Community College Kids (Why Community College is Fucking Awesome) (The Responsible One)

How to Ask for a Recommendation Letter (The Responsible One)

How to Choose a College Major (The Sudden Adult)

Finances

How to Write a Goddamn Check (The Responsible One)

How to Convince Credit Companies You’re Not a Worthless Bag of Shit (The Responsible One)

Debit vs Credit (The Responsible One)

What to Do if Your Wallet is Stolen/Lost (The Sudden Adult)

Budgeting 101 (The Responsible One)

Important Tax Links to Know (The Responsible One)

How to Choose a Bank Without Screwing Yourself (The Responsible One)

Job Hunting

How to Write a Resume Like a Boss (The Responsible One)

How to Write a Cover Letter Someone Will Actually Read (The Responsible One)

How to Handle a Phone Interview without Fucking Up (The Responsible One)

10 Sites to Start Your Job Search (The Responsible One)

Life Skills

Staying in Touch with Friends/Family (The Sudden Adult)

Bar Etiquette (The Sudden Adult)

What to Do After a Car Accident (The Sudden Adult)

Grow Up and Buy Your Own Groceries (The Responsible One)

How to Survive Plane Trips (The Sudden Adult)

How to Make a List of Goals (The Responsible One)

How to Stop Whining and Make a Damn Appointment (The Responsible One)

Miscellaneous

What to Expect from the Hell that is Jury Duty (The Responsible One)

Relationships

Marriage: What the Fuck Does It Mean and How the Hell Do I Know When I’m Ready? (Guest post - The Northwest Adult)

How Fucked Are You for Moving In with Your Significant Other: An Interview with an Actual Real-Life Couple Living Together™ (mintypineapple  and catastrofries)

Travel & Vehicles

How to Winterize Your Piece of Shit Vehicle (The Responsible One)

How to Make Public Transportation Your Bitch (The Responsible One)

Other Blog Features

Apps for Asshats

Harsh Truths & Bitter Reminders

Asks I’ll Probably Need to Refer People to Later

Apartments (or Life Skills) - How Not to Live in Filth (The Sudden Adult)

Finances - Tax Basics (The Responsible One)

Important Documents - How to Get a Copy of Your Birth Certificate (The Responsible One)

Important Documents - How to Get a Replacement ID (The Responsible One)

Health - How to Deal with a Chemical Burn (The Responsible One)

Job Hunting - List of Jobs Based on Social Interaction Levels (The Sudden Adult)

Job Hunting - How to Avoid Falling into a Pit of Despair While Job Hunting (The Responsible One)

Job Hunting - Questions to Ask in an Interview (The Responsible One)

Life Skills - First-Time Flying Tips (The Sudden Adult)

Life Skills - How to Ask a Good Question (The Responsible One)

Life Skills - Reasons to Take a Foreign Language (The Responsible One)

Life Skills - Opening a Bar Tab (The Sudden Adult)

Relationships - Long Distance Relationships: How to Stay in Contact (The Responsible One)

Adult Cheat Sheet:

what to do if your pet gets lost

removing stains from your carpet

how to know if you’re eligible for food stamps

throwing a dinner party

i’m pregnant, now what?

first aid tools to keep in your house

how to keep a clean kitchen

learning how to become independent from your parents

job interview tips

opening your first bank account

what to do if you lose your wallet

tips for cheap furniture

easy ways to cut your spending

selecting the right tires for your car

taking out your first loan

picking out the right credit card

how to get out of parking tickets

how to fix a leaky faucet

get all of your news in one place

getting rid of mice & rats in your house

when to go to the e.r.

buying your first home

how to buy your first stocks

guide to brewing coffee

first apartment essentials checklist

coping with a job you hate

30 books to read before you’re 30

what’s the deal with retirement?

difference between insurances

Once you’ve looked over all those cool links, I have some general advice for you on how you can have some sort of support system going for you:

Reasons to move out of home

You may decide to leave home for many different reasons, including:

wishing to live independently

location difficulties – for example, the need to move closer to university

conflict with your parents

being asked to leave by your parents.

Issues to consider when moving out of home

It’s common to be a little unsure when you make a decision like leaving home. You may choose to move, but find that you face problems you didn’t anticipate, such as:

Unreadiness – you may find you are not quite ready to handle all the responsibilities.

Money worries – bills including rent, utilities like gas and electricity and the cost of groceries may catch you by surprise, especially if you are used to your parents providing for everything. Debt may become an issue.

Flatmate problems – issues such as paying bills on time, sharing housework equally, friends who never pay board, but stay anyway, and lifestyle incompatibilities (such as a non-drug-user flatting with a drug user) may result in hostilities and arguments.

Your parents may be worried

Think about how your parents may be feeling and talk with them if they are worried about you. Most parents want their children to be happy and independent, but they might be concerned about a lot of different things. For example:

They may worry that you are not ready.

They may be sad because they will miss you.

They may think you shouldn’t leave home until you are married or have bought a house.

They may be concerned about the people you have chosen to live with.

Reassure your parents that you will keep in touch and visit regularly. Try to leave on a positive note. Hopefully, they are happy about your plans and support your decision.

Tips for a successful move

Tips include:

Don’t make a rash decision – consider the situation carefully. Are you ready to live independently? Do you make enough money to support yourself? Are you moving out for the right reasons?

Draw up a realistic budget – don’t forget to include ‘hidden’ expenses such as the property’s security deposit or bond (usually four weeks’ rent), connection fees for utilities, and home and contents insurance.

Communicate – avoid misunderstandings, hostilities and arguments by talking openly and respectfully about your concerns with flatmates and parents. Make sure you’re open to their point of view too – getting along is a two-way street.

Keep in touch – talk to your parents about regular home visits: for example, having Sunday night dinner together every week.

Work out acceptable behaviour – if your parents don’t like your flatmate(s), find out why. It is usually the behaviour rather than the person that causes offence (for example, swearing or smoking). Out of respect for your parents, ask your flatmate(s) to be on their best behaviour when your parents visit and do the same for them.

Ask for help – if things are becoming difficult, don’t be too proud to ask your parents for help. They have a lot of life experience.

If your family home does not provide support

Not everyone who leaves home can return home or ask their parents for help in times of trouble. If you have been thrown out of home or left home to escape abuse or conflict, you may be too young or unprepared to cope.

If you are a fostered child, you will have to leave the state-care system when you turn 18, but you may not be ready to make the sudden transition to independence.

If you need support, help is available from a range of community and government organisations. Assistance includes emergency accommodation and food vouchers. If you can’t call your parents or foster parents, call one of the associations below for information, advice and assistance.

Where to get help

Your doctor

Kids Helpline Tel. 1800 55 1800

Lifeline Tel. 13 11 44

Home Ground Services Tel. 1800 048 325

Relationships Australia Tel. 1300 364 277

Centrelink Crisis or Special Help Tel. 13 28 50

Tenants Union of Victoria Tel. (03) 9416 2577

Things to remember

Try to solve any problems before you leave home. Don’t leave because of a fight or other family difficulty if you can possibly avoid it.

Draw up a realistic budget that includes ‘hidden’ expenses, such as bond, connection fees for utilities, and home and contents insurance.

Remember that you can get help from a range of community and government organizations. 

(source)

Keep me updated? xx

Collocation anon here! I was referring to phrases that use specific words that just kind of “sound right” to native speakers but they’re different from what we would say. Like “tomar una decisión” instead of “hacer una decisión” when we would say “to make a decision” in English

Ahh okay gotcha

When I hear collocation I think "verbal phrases" or "noun phrases", words that kind of become joined to form a new word or phrase like compound nouns or specific idioms but okay!

I think a lot of times it comes down to people putting their existing grammatical knowledge onto the language they're learning.

It's very common to bring our own knowledge and experiences into learning so it becomes something you have to understand and break or recognize.

I personally struggle with formality because in English "you" is all we have, regardless of formality. When I say "you" I typically use tú as my first instinct because it's taught more than usted

That's sort of what I mean by bringing our frameworks into other languages

-

Though I will say "to take a decision" is sometimes used more in British English and in some more formal contexts!

Every so often an odd-sounding literal expression will have a British or older English antecedent... or ancestor is maybe a bit more accurate.

There are times when I'll be hearing something in an English drama and I'm like "ah that makes sense now" connecting something in Spanish.

It's not a collocation but for example aquí is "here" and acá is "here", but acá is a direction word and it could be "over here" or "nearer"... in older English it is understood as "hither" like "come hither" is directly ven acá "come here / come over here"

-

I think an earlier more confusing one is llamarse for names.

In English we're so used to "I am" as in soy but you hear me llamo Ana or me llamo Marco for introducing yourself.

It reads as "I call myself" literally

Another big one is when people want to use qué instead of cuál

As in "What's your name?" in Spanish is ¿Cuál es tu nombre? literally "which is your name?" ... not that qué isn't understood, but the implication is that you obviously have a name, so which one is yours?

Same thing with surnames, phone numbers, addresses (and email addresses which are "electronic addresses")

This also (to me) kind of makes more sense in an older feudalistic society. In Catholic societies people tended to take names from the Bible or the names of saints or angels. And not everyone had a last name, so it was like "Which house do you belong to (if any)?" so there's a bit of a historical aspect there too, especially when surnames could be given by place names or cities, or by geographic terms. It got a bit messy.

-

People also struggle with reflexives and body parts when it comes to autonomy of body parts

As in me lavo las manos is literally "I wash myself the hands", and that makes sense in most Western languages, even German, that particular construction

In English we say "I wash my hands", we don't often use reflexives like that, so people who are learning reflexives with body parts like "I wash my face", "I shave my legs", "I brush my teeth", "I comb my hair" are very tempted to use the possessives

In Spanish the reflexives mark autonomy already, if it's "I wash myself" or "I shave myself" or "I brush/comb myself" then it couldn't be anyone else's body parts.

You could say something like "I wash her face" but that's a direct object one subject acting on another... not reflexive where the subject and object are the same. In Spanish me lavo la cara is "I wash MYSELF" so I am doing the washing and I am being washed, it's just la cara that's the thing being washed... but in Spanish grammar, your body parts ARE also you, which makes sense

But it's a little confusing for English-speakers because we phrase things differently in our grammar

-

The other one that trips people up a lot is gustar in the context of "to like". We say "I like" as if it were a simple verbal construction

In Spanish with the indirect object me gusta(n) comes out as "it pleases me" or "they please me"

Don't even get me started on "I like you" which is me gustas literally "you please me"... and "you like me" te gusto literally "I please you"

That trips a lot of people up and, honestly, same. To me it feels weird and unnatural to phrase it that impersonally because I'm so used to treating it like a direct object in English

-

Oh gosh let me think there are a lot, and not just idioms, but I find a lot of the main issues I personally have are prepositions:

enamorarse de alguien = to fall in love with someone [lit. "to fall in love OF someone"]

soñar con algo/alguien = to dream of something/someone [lit. "to dream WITH something/someone"]

parecerse a algo/alguien = to resemble something/someone [lit. "to look like/to appear TO something/someone]

Prepositional verbs are really difficult

-

A few could be like special verbal phrases like ponerse or echar(se) when used with actions. The verb ponerse has a lot of uses but it's often "to become" or "to set to", and echar(se) literally reads as "to fling (oneself)"

But for example:

ponerse a llorar = to burst into tears

echar a perder = to waste / to go to waste

For English-speakers we would be tempted to use reventar "to burst", but literally ponerse a llorar is like "to set oneself to crying"

echar a perder comes out a bit weird because it's "to throw to loss", and we'd be tempted to just use the simpler verb forms malgastar "to waste" [lit. "to spend badly"], or desperdiciar "to waste"

echar a perder can also mean "to spoil" or "to ruin", which most English-speakers would take arruinar "to ruin"

Other times echarse comes out in like "to take a nap" or "to lie down" depending on the region, where it seems very literally "to

-

Now I will say there are a few verbal phrases that translate a bit differently literally depending on your intention:

1. beber café = to drink coffee

2. tomar café = to drink coffee

Both of these are correct grammatically and linguistically, but in a conversation they come across differently

beber as "to drink" reads as more of the function

tomar as "to drink" [where it literally means "to take"]; if I read tomar café or especially tomar un café I interpret it as "to have a cup of coffee" which can include the idea of relaxation or enjoyment

The same exists with "water", "tea" or any kind of alcohol or shots. It can imply literally "ingesting", but it can and often does imply some kind of enjoyment, usually like private relaxation or public social engagement. There's a bit of an unspokenness in there.

I kind of think of it similar to how comer with food can read as mechanical like "to eat/feed", while comerse with food is often what native speakers use for something you are eating for more than just nutrition. In English we kind of say "to have" for this, like "have some cake" instead of "eat some cake"

tomar also gets used in other contexts where it can be "to take in"

tomar (el) aire = to get some air, to get some fresh air

tomar (el) sol = to sunbathe, to bask in the sun

In these cases, specifically tomar el aire I would say there's a bit more of an emotional component where it's not just "to breathe" like "to take in air"

It's similar to tomar un respiro which is "to take a breath" but it could also come out like "to take a break". If I read tomar el aire I kind of get the impression that someone is either just enjoying some time by themselves, or they're overwhelmed and need a break but it's more of a translation thing I suppose

-

The most confusing collocations are the expressions with hacer, tener, and dar because they're so common:

tener hambre = to be hungry

tener sed = to be thirsty

tener X años = to be X years old

tener gracia = (for something) to be funny

tener suerte = to be lucky

tener miedo = to be afraid/scared

tener razón = to be right

tener que (hacer algo) = to have to (do something)

tener calor = to be hot (internal feeling)

tener frío = to be cold (internal feeling)

tener sueño = to be sleepy [lit. "to have sleepiness" where el sueño could be "dream" or "sleepiness" or "drowsiness", and in some cases could be understood as a noun "sleep"]

Especially because tener means "to have", and we interpret ser as "to be". Age is a big confusing one for English-speakers obviously.

But again, older English, tener razón sounds a whole lot like "to have the right of it", though it literally is "to have reason" so you can make some connections here and there

-

hacer is probably the most idiomatic of these in that it can be extremely confusing when you're first starting out to see "to do/make" used with weather

hacer calor = to be hot (weather)

hacer frío = to be cold (weather)

hacer viento = to be windy

hacer fresco = to be chilly

hacer sol = to be sunny

Not to mention when hace/hacía can be used as "ago"... like hace dos años que no te veo "it's been two years since I've seen you" / "I haven't seen you for "two years"

Literally that's "two years it makes that I don't see you"

The idea of "ago" trips people up a lot

Also connected is llevar in the context of "to spend time"... llevo muchos años estudiando español "I've been studying Spanish for many years"... Literally "I carry/spend many years studying Spanish"

You could use he estado estudiando español por/durante muchos años but it's a little wordier

-

dar can be difficult because it means "to give" but in some cases can be "to strike" or "to hit (against)"

dar pena = to make someone feel bad/ashamed [lit. "to give pain/sorrow/shame"]

dar miedo = to be scary [lit. "to give fear"]

dar asco = to disgust, to repulse [lit. "to cause revulsion"]

dar a luz = to give birth [lit. "to give to light"]

darse prisa = to hurry, to rush [lit. "to give oneself haste/hurry"]

dar las 12 (doce) = "for the clock to strike 12"

If you're reading Cenicienta "Cinderella" al dar las doce is like "at the stroke of midnight"; we have to remember that dar here is likely referring to the action of "hitting" a bell which would ring out the hour. When a clock "strikes" or "chimes", that can be done with dar but we tend not to think of a physical strike

dar en el clavo = "to hit the nail on the head"

darse con alguien = "to run into someone", to meet someone (often by chance), to encounter [lit. "to hit against (with) someone"; it carries a literal meaning like "to run into", and darse con algo might mean "to hit up against" or "to run into (a thing)" often a wall or an obstacle]

dar en el blanco / dar en la diana = to hit the bullseye [lit. el blanco here is not "the white" it means "the target"; and la diana is "a bullseye", most likely related to Diana, goddess of the hunt in Roman mythology; just like in English it could be to literally hit a bullseye like archery, or it could be "to be right" or "to get it right"]

-

This one I think does make some sense but nos vemos is often translated in the future tense; it comes out like "see you" or "we'll see each other soon", but literally it's "we see each other"

It can be a bit hard to explain but present tense can be short-term future

Secondly, nos vemos gets translated a bunch of different ways as a default goodbye - "see you", "see you later", "see you soon", "bye" etc. so that also doesn't help

But many languages have this kind of reflexive notion, sort of like Italian arrivederci where literally that ci is an "us/we" marker for reflexives in Italian

-

And there are others I could list and probably will when I think of some to put in a list as a reply

My Digital book library

Hey so I have made a google drive with a bunch of books in it. Right now it is view only, but you should be able to download the books onto your computer. All I ask is don’t “link to” your own google drive cuz then i think it actually moves stuff and I spent a long time setting this up. Thanks.

Link to Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1BTXUPcCniydI1CIT90oNJ75naQVcIDcz?usp=sharing

Link to suggestion list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iABw52vkkJAmTkCX-n6KnL3_dBpooI0gYaT9qdit6vg/edit?usp=sharing

Is it possible to have a healthy relationship with a FP?

Absolutely, yes! This is a list of how I manage that. Keep in mind that everyone is different and if certain things don't work for you, that's completely valid.

Please see this post if you aren't sure what a FP is.

One of the first things is that even though it may be uncomfortable, diversify your relationships! Have different people that you have different similarities with. For example, maybe you really love a certain show, well making friends in the fandom might be a way to have someone to talk to about that interest.

Focus on your own hobbies. It's important to try and find a way to be happy on your own.

Practice your DBT skills. There are so many different skills useful for different situations. Here is a page I am working on of definitions of different skills. If one skill doesn't work for you, please don't give up on DBT skills. I've tried a lot of different skills, and a lot of them don't work for me but some work really well.

Focus on keeping the relationship mutual. By this I mean make sure that you’re respecting their boundaries, consent and meeting their needs too (as long this doesn’t infringe on your own. If your needs conflict, that’s a bit more complicated and may require compromise.)

Teach yourself not to rely solely on them. It's important to work on things where you don't feel abandoned when they can't give you their attention. (This is where DBT skills are likely to come in handy.)

Work on your self-soothing. If your brain spirals that they don't care, work on curbing impulses associated with that(hint check out my urge surfing post here). Don't send them messages like "clearly you don't care!" Here are some tips for self-soothing that I've written about in the past.

Communicate directly. Don't hint at things. This can be exhausting, and frustrating to the other person. I know we feel awkward asking for things, but trust me that from being on the other end of this as well, I feel so much better if someone asks me directly.

Make sure your expectations are realistic. If you find your expectations are not being met, rather than getting angry at your FP try and step back and see if your expectations are realistic. If you determine they are, try and proceed with communicating with your FP when you're feeling calm.

Be willing to apologize and admit when you're wrong. This goes without saying, but people mess up. People make mistakes. And you aren't bad if that happens. But it's important to be able to acknowledge that and apologize to the other person without excuses.

This is not an exhaustive list by any means, but I hope this helps!

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Free Classic Literature: Find British authors like Shakespeare and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, plus other authors like Jules Verne, Mark Twain, and more.

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Plays: Read Pygmalion, Uncle Vanya or The Playboy of the Western World here.

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: MIT has made available all of Shakespeare’s comedies, tragedies, and histories.

Plays Online: This site catalogs “all the plays [they] know about that are available in full text versions online for free.”

ProPlay: This site has children’s plays, comedies, dramas and musicals.

MODERN FICTION, FANTASY AND ROMANCE

Public Bookshelf: Find romance novels, mysteries and more.

The Internet Book Database of Fiction: This forum features fantasy and graphic novels, anime, J.K. Rowling and more.

Free Online Novels: Here you can find Christian novels, fantasy and graphic novels, adventure books, horror books and more.

Foxglove: This British site has free novels, satire and short stories.

Baen Free Library: Find books by Scott Gier, Keith Laumer and others.

The Road to Romance: This website has books by Patricia Cornwell and other romance novelists.

Get Free Ebooks: This site’s largest collection includes fiction books.

John T. Cullen: Read short stories from John T. Cullen here.

SF and Fantasy Books Online: Books here include Arabian Nights,Aesop’s Fables and more.

Free Novels Online and Free Online Cyber-Books: This list contains mostly fantasy books.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Project Laurens Jz Coster: Find Dutch literature here.

ATHENA Textes Francais: Search by author’s name, French books, or books written by other authors but translated into French.

Liber Liber: Download Italian books here. Browse by author, title, or subject.

Biblioteca romaneasca: Find Romanian books on this site.

Bibliolteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes: Look up authors to find a catalog of their available works on this Spanish site.

KEIMENA: This page is entirely in Greek, but if you’re looking for modern Greek literature, this is the place to access books online.

Proyecto Cervantes: Texas A&M’s Proyecto Cervantes has cataloged Cervantes’ work online.

Corpus Scriptorum Latinorum: Access many Latin texts here.

Project Runeberg: Find Scandinavian literature online here.

Italian Women Writers: This site provides information about Italian women authors and features full-text titles too.

Biblioteca Valenciana: Register to use this database of Catalan and Valencian books.

Ketab Farsi: Access literature and publications in Farsi from this site.

Afghanistan Digital Library: Powered by NYU, the Afghanistan Digital Library has works published between 1870 and 1930.

CELT: CELT stands for “the Corpus of Electronic Texts” features important historical literature and documents.

Projekt Gutenberg-DE: This easy-to-use database of German language texts lets you search by genres and author.

HISTORY AND CULTURE

LibriVox: LibriVox has a good selection of historical fiction.

The Perseus Project: Tufts’ Perseus Digital Library features titles from Ancient Rome and Greece, published in English and original languages.

Access Genealogy: Find literature about Native American history, the Scotch-Irish immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries, and more.

Free History Books: This collection features U.S. history books, including works by Paul Jennings, Sarah Morgan Dawson, Josiah Quincy and others.

Most Popular History Books: Free titles include Seven Days and Seven Nights by Alexander Szegedy and Autobiography of a Female Slave by Martha G. Browne.

RARE BOOKS

Questia: Questia has 5,000 books available for free, including rare books and classics.

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

Books-On-Line: This large collection includes movie scripts, newer works, cookbooks and more.

Chest of Books: This site has a wide range of free books, including gardening and cooking books, home improvement books, craft and hobby books, art books and more.

Free e-Books: Find titles related to beauty and fashion, games, health, drama and more.

2020ok: Categories here include art, graphic design, performing arts, ethnic and national, careers, business and a lot more.

Free Art Books: Find artist books and art books in PDF format here.

Free Web design books: OnlineComputerBooks.com directs you to free web design books.

Free Music Books: Find sheet music, lyrics and books about music here.

Free Fashion Books: Costume and fashion books are linked to the Google Books page.

MYSTERY

MysteryNet: Read free short mystery stories on this site.

TopMystery.com: Read books by Edgar Allan Poe, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, GK Chesterton and other mystery writers here.

Mystery Books: Read books by Sue Grafton and others.

POETRY

The Literature Network: This site features forums, a copy of The King James Bible, and over 3,000 short stories and poems.

Poetry: This list includes “The Raven,” “O Captain! My Captain!” and “The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde.”

Poem Hunter: Find free poems, lyrics and quotations on this site.

Famous Poetry Online: Read limericks, love poetry, and poems by Robert Browning, Emily Dickinson, John Donne, Lord Byron and others.

Google Poetry: Google Books has a large selection of poetry, fromThe Canterbury Tales to Beowulf to Walt Whitman.

QuotesandPoem.com: Read poems by Maya Angelou, William Blake, Sylvia Plath and more.

CompleteClassics.com: Rudyard Kipling, Allen Ginsberg and Alfred Lord Tennyson are all featured here.

PinkPoem.com: On this site, you can download free poetry ebooks.

MISC

Banned Books: Here you can follow links of banned books to their full text online.

World eBook Library: This monstrous collection includes classics, encyclopedias, children’s books and a lot more.

DailyLit: DailyLit has everything from Moby Dick to the recent phenomenon, Skinny Bitch.

A Celebration of Women Writers: The University of Pennsylvania’s page for women writers includes Newbery winners.

Free Online Novels: These novels are fully online and range from romance to religious fiction to historical fiction.

ManyBooks.net: Download mysteries and other books for your iPhone or eBook reader here.

Authorama: Books here are pulled from Google Books and more. You’ll find history books, novels and more.

Prize-winning books online: Use this directory to connect to full-text copies of Newbery winners, Nobel Prize winners and Pulitzer winners.

Something I need y’all youngins to understand growing up in the age of crypto and streaming is that digital ownership is not ownership. Digital ownership is renting.

If you have, say, House (2022) on Netflix. That new stop motion movie. You don’t own that movie. You pay to have access, to that movie, but you don’t physically own it. It isn’t yours to take with you or put in a blu ray player. You’re paying to maybe watch it.

The movie is something you can access so long as Netflix is active and you pay for access. If one of those things changes you no longer can see that movie. If the movie goes to a different streaming service it is gone. (You should buy any movie you want to see again or would be sad if it left streaming).

Same with digital video games. Silent Hills PT is a playable trailer that, because of the Kojima/Konami dispute, was pulled from PSN. You cannot download it anymore. A physical disc cannot be taken from you, it can always be put in your console and played. Having the physical game is owning it having the downloaded game is renting it.

You’re promised these things forever but you only have access to rented digital goods for as long as the site supports it. And eventually that will change. You can pop in a Mario 64 cartridge into your N64 anytime you want and play. You cannot download a digital copy of Halo 2 to an original xbox because that support has been shut down (and modern consoles don’t let you carry your entire library on your system storage). If you have a disc of Horizon Zero Dawn you can always play it. If you have a digital copy that will go away given enough time.

Same with digital card games. Magic the Gathering has had multiple online formats. When they close one to make another your entire collection is gone. They offer you the idea of collecting but it only means anything if the servers are active. Physical cards can always be used and can even be used in inventive ways like horde mode. That’s how commander/EDH got its start.

Spotify is great for music exploration but download music you like. Go to the library and check out cd’s to put on your computer or go to bandcamp and get albums DRM free. My family switched itunes email accounts in 2011 and its junked up 3 years of purchases requiring us to rebuy them.

As much as NFT bros want you to believe it digital ownership is NOT ownership. The concept of digital ownership relies on false scarcity (minting a limited number of NFT’s when more could have been made) and a few clever words to make you think the netflix library is YOUR movie library. Its really fucking convenient for big businesses who can squeeze every drop of money out of you without giving anything tangible in return.

Digital ownership is NOT ownership.

As much as I do love the ‘SpaceX is just burning money for no reason, Elon Musk is personally designing these rockets badly, the whole company is a joke, Elon’s going to blow up on his way to Mars’ banter, I think it’s important to reckon with the actual reality of SpaceX as a military contractor.

Their ‘Starship’ is not, and never was designed to fly to Mars - that’s a marketing scheme, and it makes no sense if you actually look at the vehicle. SpaceX is able to throw money at this project because they’ve got a military contract to produce it as a military cargo drone. Their ‘Starship’ is designed to deliver a C-130′s load of US military cargo to anywhere in the world within an hour.

SpaceX, from before its first ever launch, has been partnered with the US military - as noted in the incident where the company stranded its workers without food on an island owned by the US Army. SpaceX’s constant failures with their rocket come from a simple calculation - cost versus time. To slowly and methodically design a rocket such that, by your first test flight, you’re confident in it, is just that: slow. Blowing up rocket after rocket and iterating is fast, but expensive - but when you have military contractor money, it’s worth it.

This is far from SpaceX’s only time contracting for the military, having launched military payloads with their Falcon rockets, and even designed satellites for the military. There’s a reason only USAmerican citizens are allowed to work at SpaceX.

The image of SpaceX as an eccentric billionaire’s quest to colonise Mars serves as a marketing ploy which distracts from the company’s real existence as part of the US military industrial complex, beholden not to the Reddit-fueled whims of an egocentric moron, but to the massive economic and structural forces of modern capitalism.

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