So I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve always been interested in playing the stock market. The thing is, I’m poor. So I never thought I would get the opportunity to try and invest and make a little money. But then I found an app called Stash. You can invest as little as 5 dollars, and the app is designed for beginners!! It bunches the stocks together into groups and explains what they are to you. It shows you the stock’s profile, how well it’s doing, ect. You can also set what stock groups you see based on your financial ability, so like if you’ve got some money to spare you can invest aggressively or you can invest in less volatile stocks and play it safe.

Another thing I like about it is that it has a library of informational articles about investing built into the app! And you can set up auto deposits every week / biweekly and it’s really cool? Like I’ve been using it for a couple weeks and have already made a few bucks, which is super cool. Plus, it’s a great gateway to getting you involved with the stock market.

Another awesome thing: I was offered a deal here, everyone who signs up (18 or older and must have a bank account!) will get 5 bucks to make their first investment, and I’ll get 5 dollars to invest too!

Here’s the link to give it a try: http://get.stashinvest.com/jessicaulal9

If y'all have any questions totally feel free to message me!!

I’ve been asked in the past to teach people about astronomy over the internet, and I do not have the time to do that. I do, however, have the time to upload all of my astronomy notes, various charts and graphs, and one particularly heart wrenching lecture about global warming via my very passionate astrophysics professor, and possibly in the future even lecture slides. All for free. To dropbox. Right here.

The content follows the book The Essential Cosmic Perspective by Bennett, but can be adapted for any intro level course 

The notes include:

1. Developing perspective
   
2. Key concepts for astronomy
   
3. Formation of the solar system, analysis of the planets as well as other small bodies
   
4. Stars, their formation, classification, and death
   
5. Galaxies, their formation, classification, dark matter, dark energy, and the fate of the universe
   
6. The Drake Equation
   

Other content:

1. Graphs
   
2. Charts
   
3. Helpful graphics
   
4. The Most Important Lecture
   
5. The Most Important Lecture Slides

I am also willing to update this as I find more things to add, possibly interesting articles, videos, etc. So if you find something interesting to share, send me a link!

Someone asked a while ago how they can take extra measures to make sure certain people can’t reach their blog, considering the blocking system is still pretty shit, so let me show you what I do.

First you need to install http://statcounter.com/ on your blog. You make an account, and they give you a chunk of code to put at the top of your blog. (The best part is that you can have multiple “projects” or blogs under on account, perfect for sideblogs).

To create the code, go to http://statcounter.com/add-project/, type in your tumblr url, and click “invisible tracking”. To go to the next page just press the enter key. On the next page, select the installer for tumblr, and they’ll guide you the rest of the way.

Now that you have installed a tracker, go to your project stats, and click the tab on the side that says “Recent Visitor Activity” You’ll see this page here, with all the people’s interactions on your blog. It only records 500 hits at a time.

Okay so now you have a place where you can access visitor’s IP addresses.

The next step is to get a code that allows you to block and re-direct people whose IPs you’ve blocked. Here it is:

<script type=“text/javascript” src=“http://l2.io/ip.js?var=userip”></script>
<script language=“Javascript”>
function preloadFunc()
{
var ip = userip;
var bannedips=[
“00.00.00.000”,
“00.00.00.000”,
]

var handleips=bannedips.join(“|”)
handleips=new RegExp(handleips, “i”)

if (ip.search(handleips)!=-1){
window.location.replace(“REDIRECT PAGE HERE”);
document.write(’<!–’);
}
}
window.onpaint = preloadFunc();
</script>

Replace the 00.00.00.000 with the IP’s you want to block, make sure they’re in quotes and are followed by a comma. You can add as many of them as you want.

Next is to create a page they redirect to. You can NOT redirect someone to an outside page, like a different tumblr account or another website. Say you want to redirect someone to “yoururl.tumblr.com/banned” all you have to put in the quotes is “banned” because the “yoururl.tumblr.com” is already implied. You will need to make a page for the people to be redirected to.

This code also puts the user that you’ve banned into a load-loop, meaning the page, while still visible to the person, is refreshing at a rate of about 2-3 times a second. It depends on the browser they’re using, but a lot of times this rapid data use will slow down the browser, sometimes even crashing it. 

So what you do when you wanna block an IP, say someone sends you a nasty message. You can block the anon through the message, but that doesn’t stop them from looking at your blog. So here’s what you do:

1. Go to your statcounter page and click on the “Popular Pages” tab on the side (its near the top)

2. scroll until you see “yoururl.tumblr.com/ask”

3. Click on the magnifier icon and it will show you visitors that have recently viewed this page.

Here’s where you need to do a little guess work. If you have the timestamp extension installed through xkit, all you need to do is line up the times.

Disclaimer: Visits, and messages as well, sent to you over the mobile app do not show up here.

So when you have the IP, all you do is copy and paste it into your HTML, and you’re done. The person will be redirected to your banned page.

Happy blocking.

I’ve gotten a few asks about what good studying habits are, what are good schedules to have, etc. And I wanted to make an all in one guide that might be helpful to you guys! This is especially relevant if you’re living on campus.

• Don’t take 3 hour classes, especially if you have problems sitting still for that long.
• If you eat alone that’s okay because everyone’s too stressed/tired to notice.
• Textbooks are almost always cheaper on Amazon, but you can pay with your student account in the bookstore (good if you have trust funds or scholarships). Pick your poison.
• Most times freshmen have to live on campus, but I would recommend an apartment. It’s almost always cheaper. 
• If it’s possibile, audio record your classes. ESPECIALLY LECTURES. 
• Take notes. Don’t worry if they’re sloppy or partially illegible. It’s a GREAT study method to rewrite your notes all fancy-like after class. You get sharable notes out of it, plus the ability to explain the content in your own words.
• Take all of your classes in one time block. No one wants to get out of bed 4 hours after a class to go back to another class. 
• Try not to take evening classes. Especially if you’re in a residence hall. It’ll free up your afternoon for other things.
• Try to set a 8-3 schedule. You get to sleep in later than you did in high school, and you’ll be done around the same time.
• Get to know the people on your floor. This will come in handy when you need cheap textbooks. Trust me.
• Most universities track your browser history (with programs, don’t worry, there isn’t a person sitting around just waiting for you to visit a porn site). BUT you will probably be flagged for using pirating sites. Get smart about proxies or don’t use them at all.
• Do you only have 1 umbrella? Get another umbrella. 
• Waterproof boots.
• CAN. OPENER. 
• Don’t get addicted to something stupid like drugs or cigarettes, you’re too poor. 
• Put things like hotdogs and green beans in your ramen noodles for a square meal. 
• Find roommates with the same/similar major so you can cry study together.
• If you’re having problems sleeping in a new environment, Benadryl. You can buy generic on amazon for real cheap. It’ll put you to sleep. Use responsibly or I’ll come fight you myself.
• AMAZON PRIME FOR STUDENTS. 
• For the love of god be nice to each other we’re all dead inside.