All but three, and two of them would do in a pinch.
How many ex-girlfriends (or ex-boyfriends) have gone on to be lasting friends with you?
Printable View
All but three, and two of them would do in a pinch.
How many ex-girlfriends (or ex-boyfriends) have gone on to be lasting friends with you?
None.
Same question.
Nada.
How many years old were you when you realized that protecting individuals from crimes that haven't happened yet isn't really what the police do for a living?
10. We called about a prowler. Might as well have gotten out a shotgun.
How many times have you been to court for any reason, including jury duty?
Jury duty once, but the case was settled out of court as soon as they seated us. And I was once subpoenaed to testify against someone, but he fessed up before I took the stand. Pretty tense afterwards standing in line with him to get my parking reimbursement, though. So two.
How many times have you been intentionally shot at? (Once for me).
Once that I recall.
How many time's have you been in the wrong place at the wrong time?
Nothing but near misses so far.
How many chances do you give a person before writing him or her off?
2-3.
How many Chinese novels have you read?
Four very long ones. My favorite is Journey to the West.
How many wallets have you worn out in the past five years?
Two.
How many dollars, pounds or euro do you keep in your wallet on an average day?
None of my days is average.
How many restaurants did you go to (or take out from) in the last month?
2-3. It wasn't an average month.
How many months have been really enjoyable in the year of 2015?
All of them.
How many earthquakes have you lives through?
One. They are very rare here in VA. Very low on the Richter scale back in the late sixties.
How many hurricanes have you endured?
Easily 10 or more, I lived in Hong Kong for 16 years.
One big earthquake (Richter 7+) in Yunnan, China 1989.
How many girlfriends / boyfriends have you dated that were older than yourself?
I still have and use my very first wallet...!
zero--they have all been the same age or slightly younger.
how many home remedies have you tried/do you know for stopping hiccups?
Only one. When my wife gets them, I pretend not to notice and speak in a normal voice, the suddenly lunge at her and yell as loud as I can (to scare her). It never works, but it's fun. After that I get her a glass of water, and they go away. Does that count as a "home remedy"?
How many colds have you had in the last year?
Maybe one but haven't had a severe cold for at least two or three years. It's thanks to the garlic no doubt.
How many seconds have you spent on Litnet since you first discovered it?
A LOT!
When discussing topics on Litnet how many times have you wanted to punch someone?
Never, although there have been three times when I have broken off interactions permenantly.
How many pages (minimum and maximum) qualifies a work of fiction as a novella?
80 to 100, I'd say.
How many TV shows do you regularly watch per week?
Only one (excluding newscasts), although my wife watches a few, so I end up being exposed to them. No situation comedies, though, since the 1970s.
Same question.
None, though sometimes I watch episodes of Question Time or Kitchen Nightmares on YouTube or I'll watch some competitive video game streams when I eat meals, so probably thirty+ minutes a day on that.
How many minutes do you tend to spend searching for something before giving up?
Oh yes, I watch old Monty Python shows on Youtube. I didn't think that counted.
The only thing I lose regularly are my glasses. If I can't find them in 10 minutes or so, I'll use my spare pair. But I hate those, so I never really give up.
How many times have you been in love?
Zero times.
Same question.
I don't think more than twice, although it almost always felt like it at the time.
How many sports teams have you ever played on?
I was on the relay team for track and field when I was in elementary school and I was on the swim team around the same time. More recently (a few years ago now) I joined a recreational adult soccer league with my then girlfriend and we sucked - I was the worst guy on the team and she was the worst girl - but it was still fun; I scored a goal with my head and had a few assists.
How many of the books you read, as a percentage, are strictly fictional?
It really varies over time. I've spent years and years at a time reading 100% non-fiction, and a few years here and there reading only fiction. This year, it's been around 60% non-fiction books so far, but they've been really long books, so it would be more if you went by pages. Lately I've been missing fiction though, and thinking about rereading a lot of the classics I read when I was younger. But I'll be in non-fiction for a while longer.
Same question.
More than ninety percent.
How many times a year do you read something you find really, truly horrible?
90% fiction or 90% nonfiction?
What do you mean? Information I find really troubling? Or a book about something upsetting? Or a horribly written book?
90% fiction, and yeah, just a badly written book... I know you finish it. It how often do you put it down and think "this is just trash"?
Almost never--it hasn't happened in a long time in any case. Because I finish all my books, I'm a bit fussy about what I start. I have a low threshold for bad writing.
What percentage of books did you start but not finish last calendar year (and why)?
Maybe five or six books, which makes it about seven or eight percent, I consider myself a book finisher though I'm not as rigid about it as you are.
I put down Europe a History by Norman Davies after three hundred pages for being too dense and because I felt I wasn't retaining much, I do plan to finish it however. I shelved Mein Kampf because I only started it out of interest and wasn't really committed to reading it, though again, I do plan to eventually. I only read the parts of Bloom's book on Shakespeare which pertained to the Shakespeare I had actually read and ditto for Bloom's The Western Canon.
Same question.
Unknown. I buy books constantly, almost compulsively. I have some I have never read. At present, there are six partially finished books on the table beside my chair and one I haven't even begun.
Pass the question.
Out of curiosity, Pen, what are they?Quote:
Originally Posted by Pendragon
I read Davies' history of Europe and hated his style, which I found pompous and arrogant. I remember he used new names for various cultures, which, God-like, he had made up himself, with no mention of their actual names, because he had decided that you and I couldn't handle it. We were only going to screw things up with our prejudices if he was straight with us, and of course, only Professor Davies' prejudices are valid in Professor Davies' history class. I also read his (even worse) Rising 44, about Warsaw's doomed attempt to throw the Nazis out before Stalin's armies could get there (and get them). That turned out to be a load of fashionable Yank hatred, with prejudices, once again, not to be questioned.Quote:
Originally Posted by Clopin
Davies' books seem to me to be the product of a historian whose academic bottom had swollen to the point that he could no longer really do history. I was likewise turned off by Bloom's lonely self-monotheism (although I know our LitNet brothers and sisters seeking advanced degrees are not allowed to utter such heresy); but at least Bloom is only a literary critic. Pretending that one's opinions constitute a kind of dogma comes with the turf in that field; but a historian is supposed to question orthodox ideas. Seeing how the picture changes if we move a few puzzle pieces around is really all there is to the field. Davies is willing to play that game--making past orthodoxies illegitimate to even speak of--as long as you accept his own version of orthodoxy without doubt.
So do what you like, Clopin, but as the Pope of Heterodoxy, I grant you preemptive absolution never to go back to Davies. And I can almost recommend a better history of Europe. It's "almost" because I haven't actually read it myself, although I own a copy and it keeps whispering my name. The book is Europe: The Struggle for Supremacy by Brendan Simms. Simms is a young Cambridge professor, and a global-strategic thinker, as well as the academic equivalent to a neocon (so his ideas would be highly challenging to yours--but in a healthy way). I read his Three Victories and a Defeat, a political and military history of 18th century Britain, that was one of the best histories I have ever read. Simms' Europe is long, but not as long as Davies', and I would bet the farm is articulately argued and not (as you said of Davies book) "dense." It also covers a slightly different time range (1453-2013). If you have the intellectual confidence to examine things in the light of new ideas (you don't have to agree with them), then you may want to try Simms. Trying out new ideas is, honestly, all reading history is good for.
The answer to the question for me is 0% for around 30 years.
How many "true crime" books have you read in the last year or so?
Just counting accounts and guesses on the identity of Jack the Ripper probably 30 or so.
How many victims do you think Jack the Ripper actually killed?
It's impossible to say whether there were more than the five famous cases, or if those were all committed by the same person. Prostitutes are vulnerable, which is why serial murderers pick on them.
How many dogs have you owned?
Five. My current one is a cute Schnauzer-Poo named Izzy.
How many cats have owned you?
None. Ich bin ein dog guy.
How many oceans have you swum in?