Oh boy. Here I go talking about the history of the Earth again! **The Past Billion Years** --- ***PROTEROZOIC EON (NEO-PROTEROZOIC)*** *Tonian Period (1,000 Million Years - 720 Million Years)* >Single-celled organisms are prolific in the Earth's oceans. [Acritarchs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acritarch), believed to be a kind of primitive plankton - were abundant. No complex life yet exists, and continents are barren. The continents are tectonically drifting southward and assembling into a supercontinent, which will be called Rodinia. The planet begins to cool as the far-southern continents begin to glaciate. *Cryogenian Period (720 - 635 Million Years)* >The supercontinent Rodinia completely assembles in the southern hemisphere, with its interior straddling the south-pole. Runaway icehouse conditions cause the planet to plunge into the coldest ice-age ever. All of the supercontinent is covered in glaciers, and even the north-pole, which was nothing but open ocean, begins to form sea ice. By the peak of the Cryogenian, the entire planet is covered in nearly a kilometer of ice - which scientists lovingly dub ["snowball earth"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowball_Earth). Any would-be alien passerby's would see only a giant iceball in space. Despite these extreme conditions, live continues to evolve relatively oblivious - as all life is essentially hardy microbes. Complex life *does* evolve at this time, however. Primitive sponges about a quarter the size of a pinky-nail, and jellyfish. Rodinia begins to break apart through intense volcanic rifting, resulting in temperatures rising. *Ediacaran Period (635 - 541 Million Years)* >The Earth thaws out & Rodinia has broken up into smaller continents. Primitive complex life evolves in force across the oceans. Most of these organisms are "nature's experiments", in that nearly none of them will survive past the Ediacaran, they resemble nothing that followed after them. If you could swim around in the Ediacaran seas, you would likely believe you were on an alien planet, that's how [weird these animals looked](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ediacaran_biota). ***PHANEROZOIC EON*** ***PALEOZOIC ERA*** *Cambrian Period (541 - 485 Million Years)* >The [Cambrian Explosion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambrian_explosion) takes place. It wasn't an actual explosion, calm down silly. It was an "explosion of life." Think of it this way, imagine a stadium and everyone in it represented a single species on the Earth. In the Ediacaran there were 250 people in the stadium...and then in the matter of about 5 minutes, there were suddenly 10,000 people! That's a huge jump in the different kinds of animals on the Earth in a short span of time, hence a figurative "explosion." Of course, this explosion took a couple million years, but geologically that's a blink. The first superpredator, Anomalocaris is on the hunt (it only got like 3 feet long, but at the time that was huge). Trilobites evolve and proliferate as the little iconic seabugs people see when they read about paleontology. Primitive chordates evolve, which will give rise to fish..and all vertebrates in an age to come. The continents are still barren. *Ordovician Period (485 - 444 Million Years)* >Life continues to evolve in the oceans at a brisk pace. Echinoderms like sea-urchins and sea-lilys evolve, so life is beginning to look a little more recognizable. Fish evolve, but are jawless - they just swim around sucking up muck. Mollusks, which evolved in the Cambrian, get big in the Ordovician, like really [**big**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameroceras) (think as a big as a school bus). Arthropods continued to diversify, with sea-scorpions becoming another major predator. Continents were still barren, all life still lived in the ocean. =========**THE FIRST MAJOR EXTINCTION, THE ORDOVICIAN-SILURIAN EXTINCTION**========= * Was actually a 2-staged extinction pulse that killed off 27% of all families, 47% of all genera, and 65% of all species. It is considered the second worse mass extinction in Earth history, and is believed to be the result of sudden ice-ages. Though there are those who argue it could have been the result of a much more terrifying possibility - a [gamma-ray burst](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma-ray_burst). *Silurian Period (444 - 419 Million Years)* >The ice-ages recede, and most of the Earth is quite inundated with water. A majority of the continents are covered in shallow seas, and organisms love shallow seas...particularly shallow tropical seas. Nautiloids mollusks are still major players in the food chain, as are [sea-scorpions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurypterid) (what's crazy is that these ancient sea-scorpions were distantly related to modern day scorpions! How neat is that?) Fish continue to evolve, and though they are still jawless, have developed bony plate-armor on their bodies. Primitive tiny plants begin to colonize the shores of the continents. *Devonian Period (419 - 359 Million Years)* >Fish evolve jaws, and shit just got real for every other creature on the planet. A primitive group of jawed fish, called Placoderms, become the major players in the Earth's oceans. [Dunkleosteus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunkleosteus) is considered the first fish superpredator. They would have been pretty scary, [no doubt about it.](http://i.imgur.com/CFZD1tk.jpg) Nautiloid mollusks continue to evolve, though never again will they be the big-boys of the seas. The colonization of the continents is underway! At first simple fungus-biomes (minecraft lol) existed on the shores, but soon primitive fern-forests take over along the coastal regions. Some bony fish crawl out of the water to get on land, no doubt to get away from Dunkleosteus, and behold! The first amphibians! Bugs have long since moved on to land, with insects and arachnids crawling about for the first amphibians to munch on. =========**THE SECOND MAJOR EXTINCTION, THE LATE DEVONIAN EXTINCTION**=========== * This event affected marine life almost exclusively - land animals seemed to have gone through it relatively fine. Massive anoxic events are believed to be the culprit behind the Late Devonian Extinction, in which oxygen levels plummeted to dangerously low levels - causing mass die offs. Lots of debate as to what caused the anoxic conditions, but no doubt low oxygen levels were the problem. Particularly hard hit were coral reefs, which would survive - but only just. Corals reefs would not experience a resurgence until the Mesozoic, over a hundred million years later. Placoderms, those scary-ass armor plated killing machines, die out completely. All of them. Never will the tree of life suffer such a complete die off of a clade until the death of the dinosaurs. Goodbye placoderms, we hardly knew ye. 19% of all families, 50% of all genera, and 70% of all species go extinct. *Carboniferous Period (359 - 299 Million Years)* >The placoderms are gone, but another fish is eager to fill their now vacant job position. Sharks have arrived, and the world will never be the same. Sharks had been around since the Devonian, but had relegated to minor roles in the ecosystem, with the placoderms out of the picture they now were able to quickly diversify and take over *nearly all* roles of fish. The Carboniferous was a golden-age for sharks, as sharks made up nearly 2/3 of all fish in the water. A type of freshwater shark, called xenacanths, even began to proliferate in the Carboniferous. They looked like a cross between a shark and an eel...yay. The continents are still inundated with tropical seas, so nearly all land above water is covered in tropical fern forests. Oxygen levels in the atmosphere begin to spike to dangerous levels (oxygen is a volatile gas!), with o2 levels reaching 33%. Intense forest-fires raged across the planet due to oxygen burn-offs from the high levels of o2. Fun fact, the higher the oxygen levels, the bigger bugs can get. So in the Carboniferous dragonflys got to be as big as eagles, spiders got as a big as house cats, cockroaches got as a big as dinner platers, and millipedes got as big as motorcycles. It was a golden age for bugs, too. Amphibians continued to diversift and evolve, with a type of crocodile-like amphibian called a [labyrinthodont](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labyrinthodontia) as a major land predator. But I saved the best for last! A new type of land vertebrate has evolved that has scales and sealed-eggs...reptiles! Reptiles are now on the evolutionary scene. The continents begin to merge into a supercontinent, this one will be called Pangea.

Comments on reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/philosophy/comments/2vopvy/how_to_study_philosophy_as_an_amateur_a_guide/

Legendre transformation

Consider a function f(x, y), then the total derivative is df = (∂f/∂x)dx + (∂f/∂y)dy. Let's call u = (∂f/∂x) and v = (∂f/dy) such that df = udx + vdy We call u and x a conjugate pair, as we do v and y. Now let's make the transformation g = f - ux or dg = df - d(ux) = df - xdu - udx so dg = -xdu + vdy so we see that g = g(u, y). So we now have a new function g with arguments u and y rather than x and y. This is the Legendre transformation. For the Lagrangian case L = L(q, q') we have dL = (∂L/∂q)dq + (∂L/∂q')dq' Now let's define the conjugate variable to q' p such that p = (∂L/∂q') Now when we make the transformation H = pq' - L we get dH = d(pq') - dL = pdq' + q'dp - (∂L/∂q)dq - pdq' = q' dp - (∂L/∂q)dq so H = H(q, p) so via the Legendre transformation we've swapped the variable q' with its conjugate p. It's the same in stat mech where you introduce the various thermodynamic potentials in order to swap the various conjugate pairs TS, PV, and µN

http://www.reddit.com/r/IWantToLearn/comments/2se2k6/iwtl_how_do_i_become_more_of_a_critical_thinker/

**Check out [harry potter and the methods of rationality](http://hpmor.com/).** * A Brilliant fan-fiction about Harry potter, much darker and smarter. Both informative and entertaining. **Read/Learn Non Violent Communication** * Language shape our thinking, this method is absolutely brilliant and will immediately improve understanding for oneself and other people. [The book](http://www.amazon.com/Nonviolent-Communication-A-Language-Life/dp/1892005034) & [Youtube videos] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dpk5Z7GIFs&list=PL16F02595B1BB9FA8) **Start to [Meditate] (http://humanistsofmn.org/127-better-critical-thinking-through-meditation)** * Emotions and unconscious thoughts and belifs are many times very irrational. Meditation is greater for becoming more aware of them, which is the first step before critically evaluating them. Also many studies show a myriad of benefits such as: Increased happiness, better health, lower stress, increased IQ & EQ. And [much more](http://liveanddare.com/benefits-of-meditation/) **Philosophy - "love of wisdom"** * [Philosophy for Life and Other Dangerous Situations: Ancient Philosophy for Modern Problems] (http://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Life-Other-Dangerous-Situations/dp/1608682293) , Is a great introduction to Philosophy. Very practical, will increase understanding of oneself and help in living a happy life. * Or if you prefer video [Philosophy: Guide to Happiness] (http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/philosophy-guide-to-happiness/) , Is a great introduction to Philosophy. If you want it bite sized [School for life] (https://www.youtube.com/user/schooloflifechannel):s youtube channel is also very good. **Read about rationality/critical thinking** * [Less wrong] (http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Sequences), [Audio] (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1267969302/lesswrong-the-sequences-audiobook). Less Wrong is a community blog devoted to refining the art of human rationality. [Video](http://rationality.org/videos/) **Learn about the common [cognitive biases] (http://www.businessinsider.com/cognitive-biases-2014-6?op=1) and [logical fallacies] (https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/)** * [Thinking fast and slow] (http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0374533555) Is a brilliant book by Nobel prize winner Daniel Kahneman which shows oh so many ways we are less smart than we think. [podcast](http://youarenotsosmart.com/podcast/) **Create some rationality habits** * [Memorize the Rationality checklist] (http://rationality.org/checklist/). [anki deck](https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/3427060980) (anki is an app for memorizing facts) * [Center for applied rationality](http://rationality.org/workshops/) have workshops (mostly in the USA). **Learn about the ways Marketing/propaganda is used to influence you** * [The century of the self] (http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-century-of-the-self/). This series is about how those in power have used Freud's theories to try and control the dangerous crowd in an age of mass democracy. **[The Trivium](http://www.triviumeducation.com/)** * General Grammar, Aristotelian Logic, and Classical Rhetoric comprise the first three rules-based subjects of the 7 Liberal Arts and Sciences. As these disciplines are learned and practiced together, they form the overarching, symbiotic system for establishing clarity and consistency of personal thought called the Trivium.

Credit to /u/Fletch71011 Education. [No Excuse List](http://www.noexcuselist.com/) - Includes sources for everything you can want. I included some more popular ones with brief write-ups below. Credit to /u/lix2333. [Reddit Resources](http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/cktxy/reddit_lets_compile_a_list_of_the_best_online/) - Reddit's List of the best online education sources [Khan Academy](https://www.khanacademy.org/) - Educational organization and a website created by Bangladeshi-American educator Salman Khan, a graduate of MIT and Harvard Business School. The website supplies a free online collection of micro lectures stored on YouTube teaching mathematics, history, healthcare and medicine, finance, physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, economics, cosmology, organic chemistry, American civics, art history, macroeconomics, microeconomics, and computer science. [Ted Talks](http://www.ted.com/talks) - Talks that address a wide range of topics ("ideas worth spreading") within the research and practice of science and culture, often through storytelling. Many famous academics have given talks, and they are usually short and easy to digest. [Coursera](https://www.coursera.org/) - Coursera partners with various universities and makes a few of their courses available online free for a large audience. Founded by computer science professors, so again a heavy CS emphasis. [Wolfram Alpha](http://www.wolframalpha.com/) - Online service that answers factual queries directly by computing the answer from structured data, rather than providing a list of documents or web pages that might contain the answer as a search engine might. Unbelievable what this thing can compute; you can ask it near anything and find an answer. [Udacity](http://www.udacity.com/) - Outgrowth of free computer science classes offered in 2011 through Stanford University. Plans to offer more, but concentrated on computer science for now. [MIT OpenCourseWare](http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/) - Initiative of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to put all of the educational materials from its undergraduate- and graduate-level courses online, partly free and openly available to anyone, anywhere. [Open Yale Courses](http://oyc.yale.edu/) - Provides free and open access to a selection of introductory courses taught by distinguished teachers and scholars at Yale University. [Codecademy](http://www.codecademy.com/) - Online interactive platform that offers free coding classes in programming languages like Python, JavaScript, and Ruby, as well as markup languages including HTML and CSS. Gives your points and "level ups" like a video game, which is why I enjoyed doing classes here. Not lecture-oriented either; usually just jump right into coding, which works best for those that have trouble paying attention. [Team Treehouse](http://teamtreehouse.com/) - Alternative to Codecademy which has video tutorials. EDIT: Been brought to my attention that Team Treehouse is not free, but I included it due to many comments. Nick Pettit, teaching team lead at Treehouse, created a 50% off discount code for redditors. Simply use 'REDDIT50'. Karma goes to [Mr. Pettit](http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/160ljs/what_free_stuff_on_the_internet_should_everyone/c7rtem9) if you enjoyed or used this. [Think Tutorial](http://www.thinktutorial.com) - Database of simple, easy to follow tutorials covering all aspects of popular computing. Includes lots of easier, basic tasks for your every day questions or new users. [Duolingo](http://duolingo.com/) - For all of your language learning needs. [Memrise](http://www.memrise.com/) - Online learning tool that uses flashcards augmented with mnemonics—partly gathered through crowdsourcing—and the spacing effect to boost the speed and ease of learning. Several languages available to learn. [Livemocha](http://livemocha.com/) - Commercial online language learning community boasting 12 million members which provides instructional materials in 38 languages and a platform for speakers to interact with and help each other learn new languages. [edX](https://www.edx.org/) - Massive open online course platform founded by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University to offer online university-level courses in a wide range of disciplines to a worldwide audience at no charge. Many other universities now take part in it, including Cal Berkeley. Differs from most of these by including "due dates" with assignments and grades. [Education portal](http://education-portal.com) - Free courses which allow you to pass exams to earn real college credit. [uReddit](http://ureddit.com/) - Made by Redditors for other Redditors. Tons of different topics, varying from things like science and art to Starcraft strategy. [iTunes U](http://www.apple.com/education/itunes-u/) - Podcasts from a variety of places including universities and colleges on various subjects. [Stack Exchange](http://stackexchange.com/sites#) - Group of question and answer websites on topics in many different fields, each website covering a specific topic, where questions, answers, and users are subject to a reputation award process. Stack Overflow is used for programming, probably their most famous topic. Self-moderated with reputation similar to Reddit. [Wikipedia](http://www.wikipedia.org/) - Collaboratively edited, multilingual, free Internet encyclopedia. Much better source than most people give it credit for, and great for random learning whenever you need it. For those looking for more legit sources for papers and such, it is usually easy to jump to a Wikipedia page and grab some sources at the bottom.

He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how

Friedrich Nietzsche

The shortest path through the 48 continental state capitals

Prime Number shitting bear - http://alpha61.com/primenumbershittingbear/ Eel Slap - http://eelslap.com/ Gravity in hell - http://www.fallingfalling.com/ On a bad day - http://nooooooooooooooo.com/ Pointer - http://www.pointerpointer.com/ map Crunch - http://www.mapcrunch.com/ List of Shibboleths - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shibboleths Unusual Articles - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Unusual_articles The List - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lists_of_lists Lmaest Edit Wars(Reddit should learn) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Lamest_edit_wars Just plain Dumb - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_really,_really,_really_stupid_article_ideas_that_you_really,_really,_really_should_not_create Deleted Articles - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Deleted_articles_with_freaky_titles This is the best - http://www.omglasergunspewpewpew.com/ can't sleep? - http://anasomnia.com/

Animals that are colorblind do not see in black and white. They are just "missing" a couple colors on the spectrum. the link is to a picture comparison of the normal human spectrum and dog so you can get a nice visual. http://ih.constantcontact.com/fs008/1102861874054/img/52.png?a=1103653500697 Edit:clarification Edit 2: for more information about dichromacy check this wikipedia page out. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dichromacy Edit 3: the reediting: found a better picture of the spectrum

Plagiarism is when you get in trouble for something you didn’t even do.

plagiarized from reddit

Useful advise

If you're stranded in water and you're wearing jeans take them off and keep in front of you. Tie the legs together in a knot down by the ankles. Then place your hands on either side of the front next to the zipper and button. raise your jeans up and over your head so the legs are dangling behind your back. forcefully swipe your pants down up over your head and down into water. this will create and air bubble in your jeans. keep the waist part under water and grab pull the tied legs around your neck. This will make a makeshift life jacket. You can then blow air through the inseam of your jeans to keep it inflated. I learned this in the navy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otxjh8pcs3E This guy kinda gets it right... http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/2e60zy/serious_what_fact_could_someday_save_my_life/cjwg84o