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24 Invaluable Skills To Learn For Free Online This Year

Here’s an easy resolution: This stuff is all free as long as you have access to a computer, and the skills you learn will be invaluable in your career, and/or life in general.

1. Become awesome at Excel.

Chandoo is one of many gracious Excel experts who wants to share their knowledge with the world. Excel excellence is one of those skills that will improve your chances of getting a good job instantly, and it will continue to prove invaluable over the course of your career. What are you waiting for?

2. Learn how to code.

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Perhaps no other skill you can learn for free online has as much potential to lead to a lucrative career. Want to build a site for your startup? Want to build the next big app? Want to get hired at a place like BuzzFeed? You should learn to code. There are a lot of places that offer free or cheap online coding tutorials, but I recommend Code Academy for their breadth and innovative program. If you want to try a more traditional route, Harvard offers its excellent Introduction to Computer Science course online for free.

3. Make a dynamic website.

You could use a pre-existing template or blogging service, or you could learn Ruby on Rails and probably change your life forever. Here’s an extremely helpful long list of free Ruby learning tools that includes everything from Rails for Zombies to Learn Ruby The Hard Way. Go! Ruby! Some basic programming experience, like one of the courses above, might be helpful (but not necessarily required if you’re patient with yourself).

4. Learn to make a mobile game.

If you’re not interested in coding anything other than fun game apps, you could trythis course from the University of Reading. It promises to teach you how to build a game in Java, even if you don’t have programming experience! If you want to make a truly great game, you might want to read/listen up on Game Theory first.

5. Start reading faster.

Spreeder is a free online program that will improve your reading skill and comprehension no matter how old you are. With enough practice, you could learn to double, triple, or even quadruple the speed at which you read passages currently, which is basically like adding years to your life.

6. Learn a language!

With Duolingo, you can learn Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, or English (from any of the above or more). There’s a mobile app and a website, and the extensive courses are completely free.

Full disclosure: BuzzFeed and other websites are in a partnership with DuoLingo, but they did not pay or ask for this placement.

7. Pickle your own vegetables.

Tired of your farmer’s market haul going bad before you use it all? Or do you just love tangy pickled veggies? You too can pickle like a pro thanks to SkillShare and Travis Grillo.

8. Improve your public speaking skills.

You can take the University of Washington’s Intro to Public Speaking for free online. Once you learn a few tricks of the trade, you’ll be able to go into situations like being asked to present at a company meeting or giving a presentation in class without nearly as much fear and loathing.

9. Get a basic handle of statistics.

UC Berkeley put a stats intro class on iTunes. Once you know how to understand the numbers yourself, you’ll never read a biased “news” article the same way again — 100% of authors of this post agree!

10. Understand basic psychology.

Knowing the basics of psych will bring context to your understanding of yourself, the dynamics of your family and friendships, what’s really going on with your coworkers, and the woes and wonders of society in general. Yale University has its Intro to Psychology lectures online for free.

11. Make your own music.

Step one: Learn how to play guitar: Justin Guitar is a fine and free place to start learning chords and the basic skills you’ll need to be able to play guitar — from there, it’s up to you, but once you know the basics, just looking up tabs for your favorite songs and learning them on your own is how many young guitar players get their start (plus it’s an excellent party trick).

Step two: A delightful free voice lesson from Berklee College Of Music.

Step three: Have you always thought you had an inner TSwift? Berklee College of Music offers an Introduction to Songwriting course completely for free online. The course is six weeks long, and by the end of the lesson you’ll have at least one completed song.

Step four: Lifehacker’s basics of music production will help you put it all together once you have the skills down! You’ll be recording your own music, ready to share with your valentine or the entire world, in no time!

12. Learn to negotiate.

Let Stanford’s Stan Christensen explain how to negotiate in business and your personal life, managing relationships for your personal gain and not letting yourself be steamrolled. There are a lot of football metaphors and it’s great.

13. Stop hating math.

If you struggled with math throughout school and now have trouble applying it in real-world situations when it crops up, try Saylor.org’s Real World Math course. It will reteach you basic math skills as they apply IRL. Very helpful!

14. Start drawing!

All kids draw — so why do we become so afraid of it as adults? Everyone should feel comfortable with a sketchbook and pencil, and sketching is a wonderful way to express your creativity. DrawSpace is a great place to start. (I also highly recommend the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain if you can drop a few dollars for a used copy.)

15. Make your own animated GIF.

BuzzFeed’s own Katie Notopoulos has a great, simple guide to making an animated GIF without Photoshop. This is all you need to be the king or queen of Tumblr or your favorite email chains.

16. Appreciate jazz.

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Have you never really “gotten” jazz? If you want to be able to participate in conversations at fancy parties and/or just add some context to your appreciation of all music, try this free online course from UT Austin.

17. Write well.

Macalester College’s lecture series is excellent. If you’re more interested in journalism, try Wikiversity’s course selection.

18. Get better at using Photoshop.

Another invaluable skill that will get you places in your career, learning Photoshop can be as fun as watching the hilarious videos on You Suck At Photoshop or as serious as this extensive Udemy training course (focused on photo retouching).

19. Take decent pictures.

Lifehacker’s basics of photography might be a good place to start. Learn how your camera works, the basic of composition, and editing images in post-production. If you finish that and you’re not sure what to do next, here’s a short course on displaying and sharing your digital photographs.

20. Learn to knit.

Instructables has a great course by a woman who is herself an online-taught knitter. You’ll be making baby hats and cute scarves before this winter’s over!

21. Get started with investing in stocks.

If you are lucky enough to have a regular income, you should start learning about savings and investment now. Investopedia has a ton of online resources, including this free stocks basics course. Invest away!

22. Clean your house in a short amount of time.

Unf$#k Your Habitat has a great emergency cleaning guide for when your mother-in-law springs a surprise visit on you. While you’re over there, the entire blog is good for getting organized and clean in the long term, not just in “emergencies.” You’ll be happier for it.

23. Start practicing yoga.

Most cities have free community classes (try just searching Google or inquiring at your local yoga studio), or if you’re more comfortable trying yoga at home, YogaGlohas a great 15-day trial and Yome is a compendium of 100% free yoga videos. If you’re already familiar with basic yoga positions but you need an easy way to practice at home, I recommend YogaTailor’s free trial as well.

24. Tie your shoelaces more efficiently.

It’s simple and just imagine the minutes of your life you’ll save!

#reference

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Apartment hacks masterpost

Kitchen

How to clean up kitchen (particularly the sink)

10 commandments of a clutter-free kitchen

5 things to do in the kitchen before you go to bed

What is soapy bowl and why it’s awesome

How to organize your fridge (also here and here)

Cleaning

Lots of cleaning tutorials and tips

How to clean up pantry

How to make your house look cleaner than it really is

How to wash pillows

Cleaning the bathroom

How to clean the nastiest places

Floor-to-celling guide to spring cleaning

Recaulking your bathtub

Cleaning grout

How to dispose of toxic waste

Cleaning the medicine cabinet

How to make chores more fun

Easily forgotten things that you should clean/replace

Why you need a catch-up day

Looking for a flat/moving

First apartment checklist

Where too look during an apartment hunt (and some more tips)

What to do first in a new place

What do clean before moving out

How not to get crazy during moving flats

How to downgrade to a smaller place

Organisation, storage

10 habits for better home organisation

How to store off-season items

10 storage ideas for small spaces

Storage secret weapons

How to organise your closet

Things to do before twice-yearly closet switchout

How to store and maintain your sweaters

Decluttering

Why it feels great

How to get rid of clutter

How to declutter (not only a flat)

What needs to be thrown away from your flat

How to let go of the things you no longer need

Things you own too many of

Decuttering the bathroom

Decluterring masterpost

Decorating

Projects for every room in your home/flat

Add style to your home

DIY decorating ideas

How to use negative space

4 common decorating mistakes and how to avoid them

Questions to ask yourself before buying something new

How to choose furniture that’ll be easier to clean

Season-specific tips

Things to do before the cold season

Household hacks for winter

Preparing for Christmas

Living alone / Sharing a flat

How not to be lonely when living alone

12 things you can only do when home alone

What you learn by living alone

Things you learn while sharing a flat

How to seamlessly share a kitchen

Safety issues to discuss with flatmates

Benefits of living with strangers

#reference

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Deadpool's sexuality

12/03/13 edit: Tonight on Twitter, Deadpool writer Gerry Duggan confirmed that Deadpool is queer, describing him as being omnisexual which is often used interchangeably with pansexual (a more inclusive form of bisexuality) so the following should now be read in the context of how this aspect of Deadpool’s character was presented before an official statement was made…Also, this current team has been openly promoting Spideypool (the Deadpool/Spiderman ship) outside of the comic by making a Spideypool companion video and even their own fanfic.

02/20/14 edit: In the last day fellow Deadpool writers Christopher Hastings and Gail Simone have confirmed that Deadpool is pansexual/omnisexual. Hastings also announced that the upcoming Deadpool annual was written for Spideypool fans, the release is set for May 21st 2014 but no other details are known.

01/20/15 edit: I did a podcast on this subject for goodmourningmedia, episode 9: Deadpool

08/24/15 edit: In response to this post Deadpool creator Fabian Nicieza tweeted “Sorry, but anyone who writes such an extended column trying to ‘prove’ Deadpool’s sexuality does not understand Deadpool’s sexuality.” Nicieza was then accused of being dismissive toward fans and he responded “Not trying to be dismissive, but readers always want to ‘make a character their own’ and often that is to the exclusion of what the character might mean to other fans. I’ve been dogged with the DP sexuality questions for YEARS. It is a bit tiring. He is NO sex and ALL sexes. He is yours and everyone else’s. So not dismissive, but rather the epitome of inclusive.” Fans then pressed Nicieza for his explanation on Deadpool sexuality and said, “They (nor you) understand DP brain cells in CONSTANT FLUX so he is hetero one minute, gay the next, etc. ALL ARE VALID” he responded again when questioned about whether Deadpool was pansexual, “Funny how you don’t understand the character at all regardless of his (or your) perceived sexuality, It is why he is insane, why his memory is so flawed and why he was able to survive the cancer in his system. It is why he can like something one minute and hate it the next. It has ALWAYS been a part of the characters makeup. You’re arguing with the guy who introduced the omnisexual, pansexual, heterosexual, homosexual, etc. aspects of the character!” Finally, when accused of being insulting by equating homosexuality with a mental disorder he said “I understand your fight, but you’re choosing the wrong character to fight for and the wrong writer to fight with. I have spent 30 years in this business writing diverse characters and hiring diverse creators. Character has been around since 1992. He is who he has ALWAYS been and this is it. understand it and hopefully accept it or pick a better character to rally behind. I’ll be fighting with you. Would rather let people vent. I deserve it for improperly stating things and more importantly trying to have debate about complicated character and comic book pseudo-science on twitter which thrives on simplicity.”

I was in no way involved in this conversation as I was in the hospital at the time

11/03/15 In an interview with Collider Miller said Deadpool’s sexuality was “ Pansexual! I want that quoted. Pansexual Deadpool. ”

Deadpool debuted as a stock villain in New Mutants #98 in 1991 and was not given his own series until 1993’s four-part series The Circle Chase; between these two milestones, in Deadpool’s 9th ever appearance, is the first time we see Deadpool flirt with the man in Nomad #4

Obviously, this is not a serious come on, but it set the groundwork for what would be Deadpool’s canon interest in men.

There are inumerous examples of this type of behavior throughout the entire publication of Deadpool’s self-titled series, spinoff series, and guest spot appearances. Here are a few to demonstrate the variety of occurrences:

He even flirts with well-established gay characters

some of his most sexually explicit jokes tend to be directed toward men

and when he self identifies his sexuality he is very vague

“But he’s only joking”

The fact of the matter is that almost everything Deadpool does and says is framed in a comedic fashion, and yet the only canon aspects of this character that are systematically denied or questioned (with the excuse of it being comedy) are his “queer” tendencies.

The fans that deny these aspects of Deadpool are the same ones that deny he was raped by Typhoid Mary although the comic leaves no question as to the fact that she had sex with him without his consent and he became depressed and ashamed of himself because of it.

These fans get mad when you suggest that it was rape. They feel personally insulted because to them, the heterosexual male, Deadpool being raped makes him weak and unmanly. I suspect that this false view of weakness and unmanly behavior (or femininity) is rejected by these heterosexual male fans because they look up to Deadpool and this “weakness” threatens to reflect back on them. The same line of thinking goes to why they are so adamantly deny that he would never seriously wear women’s clothes.

(For more information on his being a transvestite, read this article)

It is this ignorance and homophobia of the majority of Deadpool fans, or, at least of his targeted market, that to address this character’s sexuality we have to first analyze the subtext involved.

Subtext is buttsex

Sub·text, noun:

The implicit meaning or theme of a literary text.

The underlying personality of a dramatic character as implied or indicated by a script or text and interpreted by an actor in performance.

In layman’s terms, subtest is a literary style to demonstrate an aspect of the character without explicitly saying to the audience. Subtext has often been used as a way to portray queer characters in a socially acceptable manner, commonly done through flirting jokingly

exaggerated stereotypes (also in the context of a joke)

(It should be noted that the picture above takes place after Deadpool has an epiphany to put aside his mask and to be his true self. Immediately afterward we see him in San Francisco like this and his internal dialogue suggests he may appear to stereotypical; this of course meaning that his true self is stereotypically flamboyantly gay.)

and cross-dressing (you guessed it, in the context of a joke)

It seems unnecessary to depend on this literary tool when Western society seems to be so progressive and accepting of the wide array of sexual expressions and practices that humans exhibit, but the comic book/geek community is a subculture and as the study of sociology will show you, a subculture tends to reject mainstream normality, especially when that subculture is build upon alienation from society.

“But Deadpool has only been in relationships with women”

Technically, that isn’t true.

Aside from Copycat, Death is Deadpool’s most intense and long-lasting romantic partner. Although the entity is usually depicted to be feminine and has reproduced, it has no gender and has also manifested as a masculine figure.

Deadpool has also only been officially married once (and happily, for that matter) and that was to an alien creature of a completely different species. Although appeared effeminate it was not technically a human and therefore an argument of gender would be irrelevant.

He has also been shown to be attracted to people who don’t fit within gender norms.

And then we have Cable.

As we discussed in the previous section, subtext is an important aspect of defining Deadpool’s sexuality and his relationship with Cable pushed the envelope for what could be considered subtext.

At one point Deadpool is is forced to visualize his deepest, darkest desire and he sees himself rubbing lotion on Cable while at the beach.

The characters themselves considered themselves married (conveyed in our handy literary tool of humorous subtext) and is even acknowledged on Marvel’s website

Their final separation with the “death” of Cable was highlighted in what appears to be a confirmation on the extent of their sexual relationship:

“But there are gay characters within the Marvel universe, so if Deadpool wasn’t straight they would just say so”

Let us talk about Mystique. An iconic figure who is one of Marvel’s most popular queer characters. Mystique has the ability to change her physical appearance to that of any person she chooses and she uses this ability in various ways to impersonate and manipulate people; in doing so she has seduced people regardless of gender, the justification always being a nefarious purpose.

The relation between this and Deadpool is that despite the given intentions of their behaving outside what we would define as heterosexuality it doesn’t change the fact that it does occur and it is a part of that characters canon.

It was only recently revealed that the friendship between Mystique and Destiny, her teammate in Brotherhood of Mutants, was actually a domestic partnership in which the two openly raised Rogue as their child, and Nightcrawler was even originally intended to be their biological child (through Mystique’s ability to transform into a male.) But the characters continued to be written as seemingly heterosexual, caring for each other to the extent that would be appropriate in a friendship and they were never shown to have any intimate or overtly flirtatious interactions.

Of course these characters were originally written at an earlier time in which subtext had to be far more subtle than it is now, but this demonstrates that Marvel has and does implement subtext to establish imperative and far-reaching aspects of canon.

A more recent and lateral comparison would be between Deadpool and Daken; Daken having first debuted in 2007 and being a well-known pansexual, as I would argue Deadpool is.

Daken has only had semi-serious romantic interest in a woman and is seen sexual situations with men only to manipulate them for his nefarious purposes (exactly as we have seen with Mystique.)

Despite the underwhelming evidence of his bisexuality it was questioned until it was confirmed in 2009 by Marjorie Liu who said he “will do anyone and anything [to achieve his goals and he’s] past that kind of identification. He’s beyond it.” Daniel Way (longtime writer of Deadpool in many titles and of his video game) confirmed what is now established as Daken’s pansexuality by saying, “He’s no more homosexual than he is heterosexual. It’s about control.”

What does this have to do with Deadpool? Simply that a well-established pansexual character who debuted in a much more tolerant time has less evidence of his pansexuality then Deadpool does.

In conclusion

Deal with it.

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