ICOT, that's right. Are you a science fiction fan?
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(3422 posts)-
Posted 6 years ago #
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i've got a real question (i'm not a fan of starting my own thread so it goes here)
is it true that you're not supposed to look at christmas lights? that there's tumah in them? i've heard this more than once and it just doesn't seem to make any sense to me.Posted 6 years ago # -
brooklyn19-
Look on the reverse of the dime, about 1/3 of the way up.
The 2¢ piece was the first coin to have the “In G-d We Trust” motto. Why? Because this short-lived bronze coin was first produced in 1864, during the Civil War. As the expression says “there are no atheists in the foxhole”.
Posted 6 years ago # -
i stand corrected. thanks, ICOT.
Posted 6 years ago # -
anon for this-
I was a huge sci-fi fan when I was young and had time to read.
That was actually a guess, because Asimov was a prolific author, a baki on many subjects, and the owner of a massive ego (as you probably know he founded MENSA).brooklyn19-
That is a question well worth its own thread, where it may get attention it wouldn't get at the bottom of this thread.
I personally never head that but:
a) What do I know?
b) The inyan of not looking at the face or picture of a rasha exists, so we see the concept of "not looking" is realPosted 6 years ago # -
brooklyn19-
You're welcome.
(Obviou$ly money i$ one of my intere$t$).Posted 6 years ago # -
is there a limit to how many posts a thread could have??? is we gt to 500 in this thread does it automatically close down!!!
Posted 6 years ago # -
well i knew both of those points that you made (lol jk!) but i'm just not the type to start a thread. believe it or not - i get shy sometimes in the weirdest places...
Posted 6 years ago # -
i hope not
Posted 6 years ago # -
I didn't know that Asimov helped found MENSA, but then until a couple of years ago I thought he died of heart failure. It's true he had a massive ego, but he seems to have had a right to it. At least more so than, say, Harlan Ellison.
Posted 6 years ago # -
asdfghjkl - doesn't close automatically.
brooklyn19 - shy? you? here?
Posted 6 years ago # -
lol i know. but no jokes, i really have a shy side to me.
Posted 6 years ago # -
anon for this-
Harlan Ellison is a name I recognize well from the library shelves, but I read almost none of his books, and know nothing about him.
I was going to say I read none of his books, but when looking at his wikipedia page (te get a better idea of what you were talking about) I noticed he wrote "A Boy and His Dog" which I read as a kid (horrible book - not recommended).
Based on Ellison's Hugo collection, he seems to have earned a little positive self-approbation.
I read many of Asimov's fiction books - the "Lucky Starr" kids series, miscelaneous books like "Pebble In The Sky", the original Foundation series, the Robot series, many more that I can't remember right now - all at least very good, most excellent. The fourth Foundation book he wrote years later was not very good.
I find it surprising he didn't write on philosophy, since he had a philosophical streak in many of his books and short stories (i.e. "Nightfall" for one).Posted 6 years ago # -
brooklyn19
how could ya be shy in the cr where n/o knows ya/& cant c ya!!!!!?????Posted 6 years ago # -
i dunno! i'm really the same way in person. very outgoing, very friendly, (and very nutty!) but i surprise myself sometimes and shy away. in real life and i guess here too. don't ask! but i just CAN'T start a thread. weird, no? not that it's such a major deal or anythings. it's just so out of character...
Posted 6 years ago # -
maybe we should start another therapy thread...
Posted 6 years ago # -
k-so u want s/o to start it 4 u?
Posted 6 years ago # -
brooklyn19
oh funny!!! i started one thread so far!!! the chanukah party one!!!Posted 6 years ago # -
ICOT, I preferred Asimov's short stories to his full-length works. As far as his work having a "philosophical streak", I think any good work of science fiction has some kind of "philosophical streak", whether it's by Asimov or Bradbury or Clarke.
Posted 6 years ago # -
anon for this-
As you were kind enough to alude to, Asimov had less of a role in Mensa than I'd thought.
I remember his death, but never knew the "official" cause, or the subsequent correction.Posted 6 years ago # -
seriously. anyone gonna answer my question? it's staying on this thread unless someone else starts a new one...
Posted 6 years ago # -
asdf..: well great job!! that one was/is a hit!!
Posted 6 years ago # -
xerox
thank you!!!Posted 6 years ago # -
brooklym,
I created a new thread for ya!Posted 6 years ago # -
ICOT,
The actual cause of death for Asimov wasn't revealed until years after his death.
And now for something completely different:Posted 6 years ago # -
Sorry, hit return too soon on my previous post. Here's the new question I promised:
Which of these people did not write a biography of Abraham Lincoln:
1. Senator Paul Simon
2. Walt Whitman
3. Carl Sandburg
4. Dale CarnegiePosted 6 years ago # -
"but i just CAN'T start a thread. weird, no?"
Yeah, just look at the number of threads I've/em> started...
Posted 6 years ago # -
anon
dale carnegie. (no idea really, but doesn't seem like the type of book he would write.)
Posted 6 years ago # -
dont have internet: just read thru the random questions pages that i missed...dont think i ignored you lol i was following the rambams advice on bad habits....go to the opposite extreme and then slowly come back....lol jk i had a lot to do [i.e. sleeping :)]
but i appreciate it!!!!!!! and asdfghjkl!!!!!!!!!!!!(did you notice the !!!!!?)Posted 6 years ago # -
Bais Yaakov maydel: i sure did!!!!!! lol
Posted 6 years ago # -
anon for this-
I missed your earlier post on sci-fi authors.
Getting me started on books can be hazardous to your auditory health.
I’ll try to keep this one short, though.
Asimov – his original three “Foundation” books are among the best I’ve read.
Bradbury – very weird, maybe an acquired taste. “Fahrenheit 451” was not one I liked much, but “Something Wicked This Way Comes” was excellent, as were his short story anthologies (many of which shared stories – rip-off!). The shorts “The Pedestrian”, "There Will Come Soft Rains" and “Mars Is Heaven” are all-time greats.
Clarke’s style was much more dry. I didn’t like 2001 much (maybe because I was about nine when I read it), but “Rama” was one I did like.
Don’t forget Jack Finney as far as classic shorts and full-length books.Posted 6 years ago # -
brooklyn19, sorry, that isn't right.
ICOT, I much preferred Bradbury to Asimov, especially when it came to full-length works. "All Summer in a Day" is an elementary school staple, but if you haven't read it yet definitely check it out. Never heard of Jack Finney, but I may check out his stories.
Are you going to try my multiple choice question on the previous page? Obviously it's a trick question.
Posted 6 years ago # -
anon for this-
"All Summer in a Day" is not familiar - I'll B"N keep it in mind.
Finney's best-known book is "Time and Again" (highly recommended). The bad news is, once you read that, there's nowhere to go but down. He also wrote a famous short "Of Missing Persons".
I have no idea what the answer to your previous page question is, but since you say it is a "trick" I can think of two possibilities: a) Singer Paul Simon wrote one, but the late Senator didn't. b) Whitman predeceased Lincoln (I know he was a 19th century poet, but not much else). I'll guess Whitman.Posted 6 years ago # -
ICOT: It wasn't that tricky, and you guessed correctly, though not for the right reason. I just wrote "Senator" Paul Simon because people always confuse the two. Walt Whitman (died 1892) did not write a biography of Lincoln, though he did write many Lincoln poems after his assasination. "O Captain! My Captain!" may be the most famous, but "When Lilacs Last in the Door Yard Bloom'd" is more typical of Whitman's style.
Dale Carnegie wrote _Lincoln the Unknown_, the poet Carl Sandburg wrote a biography for children as well as a multivolume biography for adults. Paul Simon wrote a number of historical books, so it's not surprising that he wrote one about Lincoln, given that both gained national prominence while working in the same city.
If you're interested you can find the text of "All Summer in a Day" online.
Posted 6 years ago # -
anon for this-
"O Captain! My Captain!" is only pretty much the most famous American poem - and I managed to forget it. Oh, well.
Posted 6 years ago # -
what does "lol" mean?
Posted 6 years ago # -
My favorite poem was by Robert Frost. I think the title is "A walk in the Snowy Wood,"
The last lines read something like, "And I - I took the road less travelled by; and that has made all the difference." That poem has always spoken to me.Posted 6 years ago # -
It is popular, but I don't know if I'd call it the most famous American poem.
OK, new question: The temperature outside is 34 degrees F, with a wind chill of 25 degrees F. If you leave a cup of water outside for several hours, will it freeze? Explain.
Posted 6 years ago # -
oomis
the road not traveled, by robert frosttwo roads diverge on the yellow woods
and sorry i could not travel both
and be one traveler long i stood
and looked down one as far as i could
to where it bent in the undergrowththen took the other
as just as fair
and having perhaps a better chance
because it was grassy and wanted wear
though as for that the passing there
has warned them really about the sametwo roads diverge in the yellow woods
and i - i took the one less traveled by
and that has made all the difference:} memorized it in fourth grade for a report
Posted 6 years ago # -
oomis1105, I believe you are thinking of "The Road Not Taken". "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" ends with "miles to go before I sleep". I liked them both a lot too.
Posted 6 years ago # -
yros, "lol" stands for "laughing out loud"
Posted 6 years ago # -
anon for this-
It will never freeze.
Freezing means dropping to 32 degrees, and then losing enough energy to change states to solid.
Energy is lost during evaporation, which can drop the water's temperature, but once something freezes evaporation can't occur.
I assume that once water is at a temperature that it wouldn't change states either way, evaporation would be minimal.
Also, the cold air, even at 0% humidity has a much lower absorbtion capability of water than warm air, so I doubt it would have much of an effect.Several years ago I read how "wind chill" is measured, but I don't remember specifics.
I seem to recall that not everyone agrees how it should be measured, or if it is a useless number, since it isn't really an accurate measurement of how someone bundled up for winter would feel.
Is this the measurement that has two thermometers side-by-side, with the bulb of one in wet cotton, or is that the relative humidity test?Posted 6 years ago # -
oh my bad - anon - you're right it's "the road not taken"
i may have some minor mistakes in there so don't analyze it...Posted 6 years ago # -
"Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes - welcome to the real world, kid. Not too many crystal stairs here.
"Richard Cory" by Edwin Arlington Robinson - no one knows yenem's pekel.
"The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson - makes an incredible militiary fiasco sound heroic and noble.Posted 6 years ago # -
ICOT - you read Space Odessey when you were 9? And here I was thinking that you were close to my age! You are a spring chicken!
Anyway, I am sure glad that it didn't come out when I was nine because there is not much that such a book can offer to such a young person. In fact, in my opinion the book has nothing to offer to a person of any age. I did enjoy a few of Clarks' stort stories.
I nevered warmed to Bradbury's style either. And I tried quite a few of his. But Asimov did manage to make his tales interesting and readable, and I've enjoyed many of his stories (short and long, including all 6 Foundation books, though the 3 outliers were not worthy).
Is All Summer in a Day the one about the planet that rains constantly?
Posted 6 years ago # -
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
A) More than a beaver
B) The same as a beaver
C) Less than a beaver
D) All of the above
E) Not enough information given to answer the questionPosted 6 years ago # -
do beavers chuck wood?
I'll go with E.
Posted 6 years ago # -
squeak-
2001 came out in (I think) 1968 - I'm no spring chicken (maybe The Chicken In Winter?)
It's amusing to see that many (most?) posters here are literally about half my age, some even less.
If you're older than me, please accept my apology for "chepering" you with an age joke on a different thread - no offense was intended, but that would've been inappropriate.
If "All Summer in a Day" is the short about a planet that rains constantly (Venus, before people knew how hot and full of CO2 it really is), I remember that story well. It was a haunting morality tale of the irreversible harm that can be done to someone else due to a thoughtless prank.One poem review I forgor earlier:
O Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman - more schmaltz than a barrel of herring.Posted 6 years ago # -
1968 is what google says too. And as I said in the other thread, I know that I am asking for age jokes, so I am not offended when I get them.
I remember the same story as you do, though I still haven't checked if All Summer in a Day is its title. I remember the moral well, though I didn't realize it was set on a real planet. I thought it was a fictitious one in a different solar system.
Posted 6 years ago # -
squeak,
E is the answer(how many pickles would I eat if I would like pickles?)
never thought that line was for an answer. thought it's just a cute tongue twister.Posted 6 years ago #
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