One of Us is Next

 Hey guys! Adventure Van here with a blog about One of Us is Next, the sequel to One of Us is Lying written by Karen McManus. It is, as is the previous book, a murder mystery centering around the same cast, this time focusing on a mysterious game of Truth or Dare that turns deadly. I found it to be somewhat less compelling then the previous book, characters acted strangely and some situations could have been entirely avoided with just some forethought. I always have a problem with stories that need to dumb down their characters to advance the plot, so that is a personal gripe. Beyond that, though, the actual writing was on par with the original, with good scene descriptions and well paced (if somewhat predictable) twists. I wouldn't recommend it if you only somewhat enjoyed the previous book in the series, but if you really enjoyed One of Us is Lying then it is a good sequel that will still keep you hooked.

Adventure Van, daring out.

Journey To The Center of the Earth

 Adventure Van here with a book report on Journey To The Center of the Earth, written by Jules Verne. Although some more scientifically or geologically inclined may know that traveling to the center of the earth is by no means a feasible feat for humans to accomplish even with our modern tools, and that we wouldn't have much to look forward to even if we did manage to get to the lava core of the planet, it has been and still is a common trend to wonder what sort of unknown magic or history lurks below us. In this appropriately named book, we follow Axel and his uncle, Professor Lidenbrock, venturing down below the earth in Iceland and discovering all the prehistoric beasts, strange structures, and the fate of the bold adventurer who came before them. It is not an extremely long or complex read, being just under 300 pages, but it has an intriguing writing style and is well thought out in the execution. It is certainly worth an afternoon read if you get the opportunity and the time.

Adventure Van, excavating away.

The Mythos of Greece and Rome

 Hey guys! Adventure Van here with a blog on the collection of translations in The Myths of Greece and Rome, by H.A. Guerber. I've always been interested in ancient Greek and Roman mythology and religion, and it is one of the more famous ancient religions (there are still some who practice it, but it has certainly died down from previously being the ruling mythology over multiple countries.) Greek and Roman mythology are remarkably similar, in so much it's fairly easy to see when they just changed the names of a god and slapped on a new beard and called it their own. However, all of that is pretty basic lore of the subject. I especially enjoyed the book, due to how it's been translated, sorted and not 'explained' in a traditional manner.

The translation is always the most important part of any old text. The translator has a tremendous amount of power, especially when translating religious texts (there's a reason translators for holy texts are usually carefully checked by the ruling class), but the book is one of the more unbiased translations of the Greek/Roman mythos that I've read. There are some points where they actually don't translate a statement that could have multiple meanings and interpretations, and instead goes into an explanation about the separate meanings and how they could relate to the story. This is a huge change from some translations I've read, where the only one spoken of in the text is the one that the translator thought was correct. It's also sorted in a way that gives a solid timeline, both giving background and potential events at the time of conception for the myth or folktale, while keeping it in the "godly" timeline of which events happened when if you look at the stories from a literal perspective. All in all, a very good book for an intermediate grasp on the mythology of ancient Greece and Rome.

Adventure Van, singing out.

Meditation

 Hey guys, Adventure Van here! Sorry for the long wait. Meditation is a useful mental health tool that is easy to acquire as long as you have some spare time. Meditation is an ancient practice that has been used many times over the years to help enhance the mental state of the user, calming and giving more calm and rational thought. Some people prefer to mediate by closing their eyes in silence, others meditate by watching scenery and sounds from nature, and some meditate by ASMR or Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response videos. It's also very important to do to keep you mentally healthy, and it's in fact better to do in short sittings like two or five minutes instead of forcing yourself to sit through a full thirty minutes. I would highly recommend calming noises or music and just sitting still for a few minutes right now, and then slowly readjusting how much time you spend on a daily basis for what's comfortable for you. Just two minutes at the start and end of each day can really make a difference in how you function!

Adventure Van, signing out.

Email Scams

Email Scams. You know them. You've gotten them before. The famous Nigerian Prince, the Russian Bride, and all those lotteries you win without ever having signed up for. The problem is that they're all fake, and they all have very dangerous consequences for those that fall for them. A common misconception is that only the greedy would ever fall for scams like them, but it's really the hopeful poor and the elderly that suffer the most from these ruthless scammers. It's honestly quite depressing, and the stigma against those who get scammed often stops them from being able to find the support they need afterwards and can at times lead to them being vulnerable to being scammed again. In this report, I hope to go over some of the common warning signs and how to both avoid and cope with scams.

First, the best way to keep your email secure is to not use it very often. Simply giving your email out to hundreds of sites will eventually lead to one being shady or one being hacked. Keep your professional email clean from sites you don't need active updates from, and use a different email you won't mind getting spammed for other, less important sites. Another way is to use the site haveibeenpwned.com, which is an amazing site that searches for any lists that your email could appear on. If you fear that your address may have been leaked, checking it in this site will help confirm or deny it, which can be quite useful for knowing when to block and when to abandon ship.

When you do, inevitably, get scam emails, the most important thing is to never click on a link they send. It's always more wise that even if you got a completely non suspicious email, you should go to the site that claims to have sent it first unless you asked for the email (i.e. a password reset email). Another careful thing to consider is the formatting. Some phrases are quite common in scam emails but would never be used by the official company, as well as plenty of other problems such as typos and formatting errors. This isn't because the scammers are stupid, however. Often, these mistakes are purposefully made so that they don't accidentally hook someone who'll think critically about it further down the line and waste the scammer's time.

If you do get scammed, realize there's no shame in it. If scamming wasn't a successful profession, there wouldn't be as many scammers as there are. Don't fall prey to the sunk cost fallacy and think that even if you've already dunked 5,000$ into a scam, maybe it's real and the next 1,000$ payment will pay off. It won't happen. Ask for support from others if possible, and search for ways to make sure it never happens again. The chance of you being reimbursed for any damages from scamming is nonexistent, so don't trust any emails that come claiming that they're anti-fraud or will pay back the money you stole, as it's a common scam to get two payments off the same mark. Sadly, the best thing to do when you've been scammed is to pack it up, report any legal information of the scammers (bank numbers, pseudonyms or real names, addresses) to the appropriate authorities, and keep a critical eye out for any future emails or other too good to be true offers.

Adventure Van, signing out.