anobium625

The first Bible containing both the Old and New Testaments (and Apocrypha) with chapters and verse numbers was that of Robert Stephanus, 1551. Here's a challenge: What is the shortest verse in this Latin text?

Playing Scrabble, I had two blanks, the letters A, N, O, S, and T, and an L on the board that could be followed by seven other letters and pick up the triple-word bonus. I settled for something else.

But IS there an eight-letter word that begins with an L and includes A, N, O, S, and T in any order? The other two letters can be anything you choose.

Scrabble rules: so no hyphens, like LEAN-TOS, and no proper nouns or modifiers such as LAOTIAN. Foreign words must have made it into common English usage, so a word like TORTILLA is legal, but PAREJA is not.

Have better luck than I did!

Providing page numbers to procrastinators and kids unwilling to do their own reading isn't something I do very often, especially since my edition of a book isn't apt to have page numbers that will match theirs in any case. What is the most memorable appeal you can recall from someone asking you to do their work for them?

It is well-known that the shortest verse in the King James Version of the Bible is "Jesus wept" (John 11:35). This verse contains two words and nine letters. There is a verse in the NIT with two words, but only six letters. Can you identify it?

It is very common to find a question which asks for both a quotation and the page on which it occurs. This implies that there is only one edition of the book in question–one sold for use in school–and suggests that a student wishes you to save him or her the trouble of reading the book for themselves. Is it unreasonable to decline to furnish page numbers?

Can you provide me with two words that sound alike, but have no letter in common? "We" and "oui" are close, but I am looking for two common words in English.

Now that you have come up with one homonym pair with no letters in common, can you come up with a second pair?

English author Constance Savery (1897-1999) was sung a lullaby by her mother, who remembered it from her own childhood in India around 1860. In 1973, Savery recollected the words as going something like "Hillee millee Punyah, jaree an anNUDeeyar" and thought that it meant something like "Down by the river, oh!"

Does this sound at all familiar to anyone?

[ If you have to look this up, someone else will answer it first. ]

[Yes, you drop it deliberately.]

When Senator Joseph McCarthy was conducting his witch hunts into "unamerican activities" in the 1950s, he made the mistake of shooting the question, "And how did you vote in the last election?" to one witness, only to receive the prompt reply: "By secret ballot, Senator!"

Who was it that stopped Senator Joe in his tracks with that one?

More good ideas, please.

My mother is elderly and bored. Her mind has outlived her body. She is bright, interested in things, can still do math and crossword puzzles. But...

She is frail, sitting upright on a hospital bed most of the time. She can walk very short distances, but it leaves her light-headed and breathless. She has partial vision in one eye, recognizes familiar visitors and does routine tasks. She can no longer read except with a magnifying glass. TV is mostly a blur. Her hearing aid allows her to converse if you speak clearly with a slightly raised voice. Some days she hears her amplified phone, other days not. She has trouble using and hearing a CD player.

She can knit, but she can no longer read the charts. She does crosswords with a magnifying glass, but can't use dictionaries.

Good ideas suggested so far include recording memoirs, arranging for visitors, pets, senior centers, and going through old pictures. I ended the old question to have points to offer you.

My mother is in her late 90s, and she is bored. Her mind has outlived her body. She is bright, interested in everything, and only gave up balancing her checkbook because of failing eyesight. But...

She is frail, sitting upright on a hospital bed most of every day. She can walk to and from her bathroom or a little further, but it leaves her light-headed and breathless. She has partial vision in one eye, recognizes familiar visitors and does routine tasks. She can no longer read, or see, for example, the "Wheel of Fortune" letters on TV. Her hearing is not good, either. Her hearing aid allows her to converse if you speak clearly with a slightly raised voice. Some days she hears her amplified phone, other days not. Her TV helps little, because of sight and hearing problems. She has trouble using and hearing a CD player.

A friend got her knitting, but she can no longer read the charts. She does crosswords with a magnifying glass, but can't use dictionaries.

So... Any ideas?

In 1 Cor. 7:10, Paul writes: "And unto the unmarried I command, yet not I, but the Lord, 'Let not the husband put away the wife.'" No problem there, for Paul is saying that the command is not really his, but the Lord's.

In verse 7:12, however, Paul reverses the authority, saying: "But to the rest speak I, not the Lord." The straightforward reading is that up until verse 12, Paul has been speaking for the Lord, and now he is speaking for himself. One can go further and say that, even speaking for himself, he is speaking through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and what he says is true. But if what Paul says, speaking for himself, is inspired, what happens to his assertion that it is from him, NOT THE LORD? [emphasis mine].

So, is the phrase "Not the Lord" inspired or not?

In "Finding Nemo," a huge school of large fish are caught in a net. They escape when Nemo instructs them to all swim downwards, overloading and breaking the fisherman's crane, which projects out horizontally over the water. Assuming fish would do this, would it work? Give the fish every benefit of the doubt. This is, after all, a kids' cartoon.

I would appreciate helpful suggestions. For the second year I will be responding to a request to help a 4th grade teacher and a 7th grade teacher (not the teachers I helped last year) by bringing to their classrooms weekly one-hour demonstrations and experiments, principally in the physical sciences. I already know eighty percent of the students. I will do the obvious: read the textbooks, encourage the teachers to choose my topics, and arrive properly prepared with a lesson plan and student worksheets or handouts.

What am I overlooking? What would worry you if I were coming to your class instead of theirs?

It might be necessary that the artist have known Harry's parents, but that shouldn't be a serious obstacle. A portrait on page 689 (759-page edition; no spoiler here) of the most recent book can speak, although it was not painted during the individual's lifetime. The portrait on page 569 was probably painted after that person's death, and folks communicated with it as well. There seems to be no necessity that portraits be made during the person's lifetime.

Recently a math or science question stated baldly: "I don't want an explanation. I just want an answer." I did not answer that question.

There are times when all of us would like an answer -- without an explanation. That's fine, and I have no complaint in general. But all too often, someone has a homework assignment, and all they want is to get it finished. Some have the chutzpah to list six problems, all identical in concept, and expect to get the six answers [which they often do : < ]. There seems to be little wish to learn to do the work on their own. There is even the notion that only a nerd would do the work if a friend can supply the answer.

When someone posts a question with "I got the following. Is that correct?" or "I'm having problems with this assignment. Can someone give me a clue?" I respond as often as I am able. I know that textbooks are not always clear, and that an alternate explanation can clarify things.

Am I wrong to 'help,' but not to 'answer?'

I'm over the hill and have no clue. I did the college bit with plenty of all-nighters, and I did army time where I was up for two days in a row. In the process, I learned that the best preparation for an exam is a clear head from a good night's sleep, and the soldier's truth that sitting beats standing, lying down beats sitting, and sleeping beats lying down.

I do not see the attraction of remaining up all night, followed by sleeping all day. I know I'm missing something. What is it? I'm not, incidentally, talking about staying up to go to a concert or such -- just staying up. Clue me in, please.