Billy C

My father is aging, with failing eyesight, and has recently said he would be interested in an ebook reader for the exclusive purpose of reading the Bible in a font large and clear enough for hime to read.

I ve gotten him a Kindle Fire, loaded with the NIV Bible (his preferred version). Maybe that s enough, but I suspect that apps exist that could be even better. I m looking for an app that will:

1. Be fully functional offline

2. Have easily resizable font.

3. Have no ads or in-app purchases.

4. Have chapter-and-verse navigation, with controls designed or sizable for users with visual difficulties.

This can t be an uncommon situation, and all recommendations are welcome.

As I mentioned his preferred version is the NIV, but I d be interested in any version that provides these features. I do realize that #3 will probably eliminate free apps, but I am willing to pay for an app that provides it.

(FWIW, I m an atheist with a very religious father whom I love. You can, if you want, make snarky comments about his choice in reading material but you re wasting your time and I m just going to think you re a jerk.)

We have a kind neighbor whom we like very much, except that he insists on mowing our yard now & then.

This wouldn't be so bad, except that he doesn't realize that his mower has a setting higher than "pavement," so his efforts leave streaks and patches of bare dirt, between which lie piles and drifts of former grass. Every time he mows we have to reseed parts of the lawn.

We have politely explained to him a few times that we prefer to mow the lawn ourselves, because we enjoy the activity (this is true) and need the exercise (this is too true). This does not seem to work.

Does anyone have a clever and polite way to say, "We love you. Please stay off our lawn."?

If gcf(a,b) = 1, prove that gcf(a+b, a² - ab + b²) is 1 or 3.

Driving down the road yesterday, and amid a bunch of little pink & blue flags on the lawn of a Baptist church I saw a sign that said:

What if you're wrong?

90% of women who have had abortions say they made a mistake.

Or something like that. Now, I know that claim is false. But I'm curious: is this a number that some Christian pulled out of his butt, or is it taken out of context from a real study? Has anyone seen this sign or this statistic, who knows where 90% comes from?

I remember reading a YA historical novel about the revolutionary war in which a girl pretended to be a boy in order to be a rebel soldier -- sort of Mulan set in the American Revolution.

For years I've thought that this was "My brother Sam is dead," but now that my son is reading that book I realize I'm remembering a different book. The one I'm remembering has to be at least 25 years old. Any ideas?

Over the last couple of years I've seen many films of the French "New wave." and for the most part I just don't get it. I do like most of Louis Malle's films (especially Elevator to the gallows) and Claude Chabrol's.

But most of the big movies I just don't get. The 400 blows is okay, but nothing great, and as a whole the Antoine Doinel movies are forgettable. Breathless, even at 90 minutes, is long and dull; why anyone would sit through it twice is a mystery to me. And Eric Rohmer's films about people who talk about things they never get around to doing ... meh.

I've read commmentaries and criticism for many of the films, and I have some idea of their place in the history of cinema. I just wonder whether they're films for which "you really had to be there," and perhaps they just haven't aged well.

Is there anyone who has seen these films for the first time in, say, the last 10 or 15 years and who has actually fallen in love with them? What do you see in them?

A university once had 17 professors, who met once a week. At this meeting, any prof who discovered an error in his/her own published work should announce the error and resign. No professor knew of any error in his/her own work, but each prof had published at least one such error, which was known to all except for the offending prof.

A visiting prof came one year in hope of a permanent position. During the year he learned of all errors committed by the other profs. When he was not offered the position, the new prof got his revenge at the last meeting of the year. He announced, "At least one of you has published an incorrect result which has been discovered by others in the department." What happened next year?

I found this problem in Spivak's Calculus (2d ed., p.35) It's shortened for the character limit, but I think I got what's important. My answer is "nothing," since they all knew this already. But this is wrong: in fact, the next problem is to tell why it's wrong. Why?

My son is entering 8th grade and doesn't understand rounding. A few times every year he re-learns the algorithm well enough to be tested over it, but doesn't retain it for more than a few days.

For example, last night he had the problem: "Round 0.006 to the nearest hundredth." He gave the following answers in quick succession as he was told each was incorrect:

0.007

0.006

0.6

0.7

6.000

Rounding came naturally to me, and I don't understand why he struggles with a process that I find obvious. I have tried every explanation I can think of multiple times, and none sticks with him.

Has anyone else struggled with the idea of rounding, or worked with students who have? What is so difficult about it? What explanations seem to be most effective?