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no offense but the whole kissin kate barlow and “i can fix that” sam storyline from holes is quite frankly one of the most gripping and tragic in the history of cinema and i’m still not recovered from it

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how to learn new content and never forget it

save this for your next academic year and finals, and it’ll save your grades and time.

1. whenever you read a paragraph with new content, close the book/look away and ask yourself: “what have i just learned?” explaining the concept to yourself right away and asking follow-up questions will change the way you retain new material forever.

2. at first, it’ll be daunting, and it’ll be pretty hard to actually bring yourself to do this. trust me, it’ll be worth it - as this is scientifically proven one of the most effective study techniques.

3. to try this out, set yourself a timer for how long you estimate learning a concept might take. now take away 20% from that estimate. you won’t be able to reach this goal with basic highlighting and re-reading techniques - but with active recall, you will.

4. once you’ve understood the concept, use spaced repetition systems like anki flashcards to force yourself to retrieve this information in a set period of time. this way, your brain will always be reminded of this concept before it could possibly forget it.

5. teach it to others as much as you can. as with the old wisdom “see one, do one, teach one”, one of the only guarantees you’ve really gotten something is when you can effectively teach it.

hope these are helpful for you!!

more content like this on my instagram, @softmedstudent

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Fanon Robb Stark: Love obsessed cinnamon roll who needs a hug! Can’t keep his dick in his pants and lost the North. Doesn’t deserve to be king and lost the war because he got married. Boring good guy obsessed with honor and love. The only people who remember him are his fans or people ready to say he was a bad king.

Canon Robb Stark: The entire realm was literally pissed scared of Robb Stark. He was the young Lord turned King who was destroying, straight up destroying Tywin Lannister. Tywin Lannister! The man who got a song named after him for being a fucking nightmare and Robb Stark was embarrassing him at every turn. He captured the King Slayer, one of the deadliest swordsmen in the series, destroyed the west, saved the Riverlands, and basically became a legend overnight. Robb Stark with his mother’s help was leading and winning a war on his own skill. Seriously, he wasn’t called “The Young Wolf” as a cute play on words since he was a Stark. They called him that cause they thought he could turn into a fucking Wolf! He was also a Warg, the only one besides Bran who even understood what the Wolf dreams meant. It took being betrayed by his best friend, 3 sworn house armies, and Tywin organizationing the Red Wedding, which is the equivalency to burning a church in our time, to defeat him and still to this day GRRM, the creator of ASOIAF/GOT says that he had to kill off Robb or he would’ve been unstoppable.

I think this fandom seriously forgets how motherfucking badass this character was and how it took literally the worst mother fucking luck a king in the north can motherfucking have to fucking defeat him. Seriously the motherfucker was fighting in a war with fucking four other KINGS! Fucking Four motherfuckers Kings! Who’s to say who could’ve done better?! Fuck of Robb was still alive fucking the Lannisters would be taking it in the ass right now! Daenerys?! Do you really think how that meeting would’ve been the same if he was there

Dany: The last King in the North was Torrhen Stark.

Robb: Aye he was, until your ancestor Aegon The conqueror burned thousands alive in the fields of fire…Do you wish to repeat history if I do not kneel?

Dany: Under a Targaryen the realm has always had peace.

Robb: Has it? The Faith Militant Uprising, The Dance of Dragons, Blackfyre Rebellion, War of the Ninepenny Kings, and of course Robert’s Rebellion, the war your father and brother started by killing my grandfather, uncle, and kidnapping my aunt.

Dany: Don’t judge a daughter for her family’s sins

Robb: But yet you want their power…How does that work? Wanting the Targaryen’s legacy but not their sins?

Dany:

Robb: I came for Dragonglass, but I see I must find it elsewhere.

Dany: I haven’t given you permission to leave yet.

Robb: Can you fight more than one war at once, Daenerys? I’ve done it before and it’s not easy. You’re fighting the Lions, don’t make the Wolves a threat too. If you truly want to prove you are not your father, let us have have the dragonglass. In exchange, I’ll aid you in securing the Irone Throne.

Dany: You would withhold the North from me?

Robb: And the Vale and Trident.

Dany: Under what grounds?

Robb: under the grounds that it is my family’s land and they named me their king. If you are a Queen because your family held the crown, then remember so was mine. If you truly mean to make the realm better then understand my people know no king but the king In The North. They will fight the dragons till their last breath. Then what will you have? Ashes. If you burn King’s landing, the Trident, and the North, then invade it with your army of rapists, you’ll only be known as the Mad Queen of the Ashes.

Dany:….So What do you purpose?

Robb: Cersei will never surrender, not even if the dead, dragons, and wolves are at her door. Her arrogance made her start a war, even when I tried to sue for peace. She ignored it.

Tyrion: You see no point in even trying?

Robb: What do you think your sister will do with the choice of kneel or die?

Tyrion:…She’ll fight till the bitter end and take as many lives with her.

Robb: Right. You may not believe my stories of dead men, but you at least believe in a form of peace. We can form an alliance. You made one with The Greyjoys, you can make one with me.

Dany: How did you-

Robb: The Ironborn would never work with you unless they would gain something. Let me rule over the North, Trident, and Vale. The rest of the realm will be yours. We will avenge our families that have suffered under the Lannisters and work together to stop the dead.

Dany: I still do not believe in stories of dead men, Robb Stark.

Robb: Aye, and I hadn’t believed in the return of dragons. The dead will come, yet the Lions are here now. One war at a time…Queen Daenerys.

Dany:…Very well…King Robb.

I only say that the meeting would have gone differently because Robb was raised and trained in history and how to negotiate and how to deal with Egos. I love Jon and his amazing Ass to death, but Ned didn’t raise him to be a Lord and definitely not a king. Jon was at the Wall during the war of the five Kings and was out of touch. Even Sansa and Tyrion had to tell Jon that he doesn’t understand Cersei like they do and he doesn’t. At the Wall there is barley politics, just survival. You can argue that the war for Dawn is different, but it takes someone to know how to deal with these people and their ego. That’s why Theories of Political Jon even exist. Going beyond the Wall wasn’t just to prove the army of the dead exist to Cersei, but to Dany too. Robb would believe Jon by default because he trusts and loves his brother. Robb would also understand just from the war of the five Kings that Cersei will never bend the knee, so it would be easier to convince Daenerys to fight with him like it was for Renly.

Build an all star North: Robb as King, Jon as a knight commander of the army, and Sansa as hand of the King.

My whole Point is that some people in this fandom need to start giving King Robb Stark some credit! He was a fucking Badass and when the creator of the damn series itself says he would’ve been unstoppable you listen.

Edit: Robb was the only one of the 5 Kings in the war who didn’t name himself King. His people did! The first king in 300 years! It wasn’t just the North either like most would think.

The North and the TRIDENT declared him their King! Two fucking continents declared a teenager King because he was that fucking badass! Seriously!

Tyson’s line: “Any man who must call himself King is no king at all.”

Stannis, Renly, Balon, Joffrey, all those fucks had to defend or fight for their claim. Robb Stark was given the crown. Two separate continents gave a teenager their crown! And he fucking wrecked everyone. Stannis and Tywin even had to respect him even though they wanted him gone. Fucking Renly wanted to work with him cus while his people loved him, Robb’s fucking people worshiped him. It’s been 5 seasons, 3 books and this mother fucker is still relevant in the fans eyes! Like fuck! Fuck You if you only remember as the tragic hero, he was more than just that.

Jon: Saw him as his best friend and hero. In the books and show he even claimed Robb was his better. Which maybe it was hero worship or maybe it was fucking true! Jon wasn’t a one man army in the books and in the show Robb didn’t have his guards. Fucker just want into war on his fucking own. Mind you that means he found a way to capture Jaime on his own too. Jon and Robb were close as fuck and the only reason book Jon didn’t join Robb was cause he thought he would’ve been killed for desertion. Jon still cries for Robb.

Sansa: Literally the poor girl took strength in Robb’s memory. It was the only comforting thing she could think about half the time. Her older brother, her hero, coming to fucking murder the Lannisters. Seriously from the day her father died till the day Robb died, he was all she thought about. She looked up to him, loved him. The fucker was her hero. She looked Joffrey right in the eyes and said “My brother will storm this fucking city and kill you all.” She always said she has to be strong like Robb.

Arya: She was just like Sansa. She looked at Robb like a hero. You show fans don’t know, but Arya loved Robb just as much as Jon. She thought about him daily and prayed for him to kill the Lannisters.

Bran: The boy wanted to go to war with Robb! Funny thing is while Bran wasn’t as good with the bow and arrow like Arya, he was better at swords. Bran wanted to warg into Summer and fight side by side with his brother. Just like his sisters he wanted to be strong like Robb.

Rickon: Robb was like a parent to him when Ned and Cat left. He took care of the kid, played with him. As he did with Bran .

The North and Trident: Those people books later still talk about him being their king and damning the oath breakers. Even the Karstarks still respect him. Seriously read the fucking books.

We know no king but the King in the North who’s name is Stark. King Robb Stark. The Young Wolf! King in the North and the Trident! Fuck the Oath breakers!

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Ned Stark: I’ll take your advice, friend I’ve never listened to before

Catelyn Stark: I never understood why anyone would murder a person. And then I got cheated on and I was like “oh, okay…I’m not going to do it, but I get it”

Jon Snow: Ah, none of us really know our fathers

Robb Stark: The more you do stuff, the better you get at dealing with how you still fail at it a lot of the time

Sansa Stark: I try to stay optimistic even though I’ll admit, things are getting pretty sticky

Arya Stark: Would you like me to kill that guy for you? Because I will totally kill that guy for you

Bran Stark: You know those days when you’re like “This might as well happen”.

Rickon Stark: No one cared about my opinion when I was a little kid. No one cared what I thought

Daenerys Targaryen: I thought I was going to be murdered my entire childhood

Margaery Tyrell: Aw, I love how you’ll just wear anything

Cersei Lannister: Apparently I would get drunk and ruin parties

Jaime Lannister: My dad loved us. He just didn’t care about our general happiness or self-esteem.

Tyrion Lannister: Sometimes people ask “what do you think you’re doing”. But that just means stop. They didn’t actually want to know my thought process.

Sam Tarley: I’ve never been in a fight before, though maybe you could tell that from the first moment I walked in

Theon Greyjoy: To those watching me: I hear you. I also don’t want to be doing what I’m doing.

Tywin Lannister: One black coffee

Stannis Baratheon: Brush your teeth now BOOM! Orange juice. THAT’S LIFE.

Tommen Baratheon: My vibe is more “you could pour hot soup in my lap and I’d probably apologize to you”

Petyr Baelish: And I said “no”. You know, like a liar.

Ramsay Bolton: Because it’s the one thing you can’t replace

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Found this gem on Reddit

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So as someone rightly pointed out to me earlier, there was no Lt. Leslie in my original post so here he is! I also added Captain Smith and the singing soldier because why not??

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im screaming

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I felt like this needed to be posted here.

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study things to do when you only have 15 minutes

as someone who has two jobs and studies full time, it’s important to grab every second i can to study! but sometimes when you don’t have enough time to get stuck into research or proper deep learning, it can be hard to know what to do. here’s some stuff i normally do when i know i don’t have long to study.

practice flashcards

when i had a politics exam coming up that i was really nervous about, i just carried my flashcards with me in my wallet and i would do them in my spare time on the bus, waiting at the doctor, etc!

revise notes from class/readings

i feel like this is an obvious one, but just quickly skimming back over your notes every so often helps cement knowledge in your long-term memory and will improve your learning overall for the semester. this is a super good thing to do if the time you have to kill is ‘waiting to go into class’ time!

write a part of an assignment that you already know how to do

i used to never do essay or report writing when i knew i didn’t have too long, because i thought i wouldn’t be able to get anything worthwhile done. more recently, i’ve found that i actually work quite well when i know i only have ten minutes - i just throw a few sentences i’m sure about together, bullet point one paragraph, etc. it actually makes it much easier to know where to start when i sit down for a long session of work!

get on top of admin stuff

one of my favourite things to do in an in-between moment is just go through and format my assignments that i have coming up - put headers in, make sure the document template is set up correctly, or fill in referencing for something i’m partway through. it doesn’t require as much brainpower as other tasks, but it still takes time and needs to be done, so it’s good to get it out of the way!

pretend you’re on a talk show and script in your head what you would say about your subject as an expert in the field

i don’t know, is this a political philosopher thing? this is probably a political philosopher thing. but i find this so fun and whether you can do it confidently or not demonstrates how well you’ve grasped a topic, what you remember, where the gaps in your knowledge are. what kinds of questions would get asked about this topic? how would you answer them? (this is secretly great exam prep if you, like me, get exams with long answer questions).

those are all the ones i have for now, but if ppl from other fields have other things they like to do, feel free to rb and add!

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So you have to write a paper

So this may seem excessive and killer but this is the method I use for starting a research paper. I’m bored and trying to avoid writing a paper myself hence the two posts in very short time frames so here are some tips I’ve gathered from professors, older students, my own process writing papers, etc. These can be effective for high school and college writing so here it is:

1. Too many sources is better than not enough

2. Read all requirements for the assignment

3. Try to have at least 2 book sources

4. Use GoogleScholar or your school’s library for access to quality information.

5. Write down your citing format. (I’m a History major and we use Chicago style so i usually keep a separate paper for each source that I take notes on and on the top of the paper I have how I will write in the footnote and how my citation will look in the bibliography)

6. Sources are never limited to written work. Maps, charts, documentaries are all relevant sources.

7. Go get help if you need it. This being said, start a little in advance.

8. Make sure you even cite ideas from a work, even if it is not their exact words.

9. Make sure everything in the paper is relevant to the thesis. If not, get it out of there.

10. Keep your thesis broad, yet specific. (Ex. Don’t say, “The Romans were the greatest civilization”, try “The Romans were the greatest civilization whose ideas such as architecture, technology, and the legal system still influence the modern world”, and then continue to discuss those more specific ideas. This does not go too in depth but it narrows down your ideas and creates an essay map.

11. Something I learned from my history professor...the PIE method. In each paragraph, state your Purpose (what point you want to get across in said paragraph), Illustrate (this is where you will use sources and paraphrase. Back up whatever you want to say), and Explain (this is where you use your own words and further elaborate on the illustration. Use your ideas)

12. Always revise your thesis. If your paper doesn’t match what your thesis says, try changing your thesis first.

13. Do not mix up your sources. Stay organized and keep ideas separate everywhere but your paper.

14. Don’t use too much of the same source. Incorporate different sources, but do not make half of your paper just long quotes. Instead, try shortly paraphrasing what they are saying and cite it.

15. PurdueOwl is a great place to find info on how to cite your sources (it has APA, MLA, and Chicago and it’s always up to date)

16. Proofread! Always proofread!

Some of these may not work for you, but this is what I’ve gathered from my own work. If you’re like me and sometimes procrastinate a little longer than you should have, just keep organized, stick to your thesis, and remember to cite. 

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Tips for Culture Worldbuilding:

Believe it or not, language is a key aspect in world building. You don’t have saturate your content with foreign, made up words. A few interesting phrases and expressions will do. Just for gun, you can make up the grammar and phrase later. Just don’t spend all your time on making up a language unless your story is specifically about that language or language in general.

Food is very important. They say you are what you eat and your characters are defined by their diet. Your character may be from an island country where they eat a lot of fish. They may not have had bread or baked goods. 

What type of economy do your country(s) have? Do they barter? Do they use coins, solid gold, or something else, like magic in a bottle? Establishing economic relationships between countries is essential. One country may have something another country needs. That’s haw most wars occur.

Materials help to define a country. Some cultures value service above materials like jewels and gold. Other value food and water more. Each country utilizes their materials in a way that benefits them. They use the wheat that grows so well in their endless fields to make awesome bread that can only be made there. Others can make beautiful pottery because they have huge deposits of clay.

What kind of weaponry does your country(s) have? And don’t say swords, bows, and spears. It’s ok to have some made up weapons with electricity or sound or something. It’s possible to not have any weapons besides human hands in a fantasy and I’m not just talking about magic.

Magic is good and all, but get creative with it. Set limits. There can be rules to using magic. What if every time you cast a spell, it ages you? Linking magic through genetics is a little mainstream. Have your character learn their magic rather than have a genetic talent or gift awarded them by a mage. 

There are other types of government besides a monarchy in fantasy. Not everything has to be about a king finding his queen or a queen finding her king. It’s possible to have no government. Some cultures can be nomadic tribes or clans.

The politics of your country are important, but you don’t have to make them complicated. Take some time to come up with a set of rules and government procedures. Is it illegal to marry in one of your countries? How does this affect your characters?

Traditions can define a culture. Whether they are religious, superstitious, or just everyday things your characters do, they are important. Is there a song that is sung every day? Do your characters have to wear something before and/or after marriage to denote their availability or lack thereof? What is the marriage system like? Is lgbt+ marriage legal? You don’t have to support it to put in your story. It’s all about whether it makes sense in your story.

Geography is about 95% of the worldbuilding game. Is your character from a mountainous region? They may not be susceptible to cold and can withstand high altitudes, but will probably blister and turn as red as a lobster in a desert region. Stay consistent. Not all of your characters have to be the rough, hardy type that can survive every terrain. 

Mythology and religion are both very important. It’s possible to have no religion in your country, but think about it: a religion can be started by a myth.

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Quick Planner Tips

1. As soon as you get a syllabus for your classes, start putting assignments in a daily planner.

2. Write day to day lessons and readings and highlight important assignments. I recommend a different color highlighter for each class.

3. Use the daily section for important meetings or events as well.

4. Use the month section, except without day to day lessons, write down important assignments and coordinate their highlighter color with the color you used for the class in the daily section. This helps give you a better monthly idea of time frames and your workload for the month.

5. Write down assignments you want to start over the weekend or are fast approaching in the weekend section of the daily planner.

6. Write down professors’ emails, phones, office hours and locations plus your advisor’s info somewhere in this planner. It’s like an easy to use way to know how and when to get help.

7. If it helps, write down time frames you want to designate to studying or doing assignments in the book. You can better manage your time this way so it doesn’t seem like you never have time to get things done.

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i hope you all have successful careers. whether your field is low paying or high paying, whether you are pursuing a passion or doing what you can to get by, whether you have known your future since fifth grade or are still trying to figure out what you want to be, whether you become an engineer or an artist or a stripper or a technician or a business owner or a nurse or a designer or a construction worker; i hope your career thrives and brings you some type of joy. you deserve it.

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20 More College Tips Because Everyone Can Use A Bit of Help

1. Tupperware is your friend...and your ticket to free extra dining hall food.

2. Sometimes, it doesn’t hurt to go out of your way to do nice things for your roommate (leaving her encouraging notes on the day of her exams, buying her gatorade and leaving some advil on the counter when you know she’s going to have a hangover the next morning, taking out her trash, etc)

3. If you’re sick of ramen, knorr’s pasta sides are also pretty good and affordable.

4. Owning more than one color highlighter is a super good idea.

5. Gen eds suck, but everyone has to take them. Do the best you can and get help if you need it.

6. Some professors suck at teaching, but sometimes reading through the textbook can teach you something. You can always learn something (even if it is simply, “Don’t take Professor____ in the future”)

7. If you have the means, two meals a day at least. Try to get some variety in there, kiddo.

8. Chances are if you live on campus, you are constantly bombarded with events you can show up to. You probably won’t have time for all of them and they shouldn’t be a priority, but there is no harm in going to a paint night or seeing a guest speaker once in a while. You will relax, grow as a person, and learn something.

9. Make friends (quality friends). Quantity DOES NOT matter, but it’s a good thing to have a couple buds you can do face masks with while eating gummies and binge watching john mulaney on a friday night.

10. You’ll probably drink so I won’t tell you not to drink, but drink responsibly.

11. It’s a privilege to be here. Sometimes it sucks, but you have access to higher education and there are so many that wish they had the same opportunity as you. Take advantage of this time in your life.

12. Have a few phone numbers of local take out places handy. The dining hall has the same shit as always sometimes and maybe you don’t feel like going anywhere.

13. Be willing to help classmates without expecting a reward. That person you talk to in political science that almost cries when they get their exam grades back? Exchange numbers and try to help them or study with them. You make a friend, you are more encouraged to learn the material yourself, you’re motivated to study, and it’s a nice thing to do. They will appreciate it, you don’t need to ask for a “thank you”

14. Snow days are for sleeping in AND getting work done. Give yourself that extra hour or two to sleep, but get your ass up and get some work done at some point. Future you will be grateful and sometimes deadlines aren’t pushed back because of a snow day.

15. Talk to your friends back home. They miss you and they don’t need to be thrown on the curb because you made new friends. They love you too.

16. If you have siblings, they DO love you, even if your entire childhood was tormenting each other and screaming “GET OUT OF MY ROOM” and they deserve a phone call or a text convo too.

17. Take opportunities you are given. A prof wants you to present your work at a conference? SAY YES! Your work will be published? HELL! YES! Don’t say no to these things.

18. Keep your dorm clean. Don’t be that person. This goes for off-campus students as well. Nobody wants a gross living space.

19. Water is free if you BYOB. Fill up in the fountain, a sink, etc. Drink less sugary drinks and you’ll feel better.

20. Sometimes you just can’t bring yourself to do work. Take a walk. Pay attention to the trees or the wind. Hear every sound around you. Try to avoid the cracks in the sidewalks. Clear your mind a bit and then get back and crank some work out.

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372  | Another famous foreign bookstore | Shakespeare and Company, Paris