semiotic_pirate: (MEME!)
Thanks be to [livejournal.com profile] sunfell:

This is a list of the 50 most significant science fiction/fantasy novels, 1953-2002, according to the Science Fiction Book Club.

Instructions: Bold the ones you've read, strike-out the ones you hated, italicize those you started but never finished and put an asterisk beside the ones you loved.
Read more... )
While I understand some of the choices on the list, I don't understand others. Nor do I like how they stopped with 2002. What's up with that? Oh. The list is a chestnut, apparently, and has been around since - of course - 2003. I wish there was some explanation of their criteria. Best sales, most influence on the genre, best writing -- something more than a list we're all going to spend far too much time debating and grumbling about who they left off. By the way, you aren't supposed to notice that 11-20 are alphabetical, eh? I like this commentary about the list - the comments back and forth and such. BTW: when you corner the bookseller (Science Fiction Book Club) to give out the top ten only they give this (to USA Today)as their answer:

J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (1953-54) is the "most significant" science fiction and fantasy book of the past 50 years, say editors of the Science Fiction Book Club. The rest of the top 10:

2. Isaac Asimov's The Foundation Trilogy (1963) traces the life of Hari Seldon, a "psychohistorian" who attempts to map the best course for the next millennium after the fall of the empire.

3. Frank Herbert's Dune (1965) creates a desert planet whose sole commodity, the intoxicating spice Melange, drives its inhabitants to greed and destruction in the year 10,991. David Lynch directed the 1984 film.

4. Robert A. Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) features a child from Mars who adapts to life on Earth and founds his own church, which resembles a swinger's club.

5. Ursula K. Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea (1968) introduces a boy named Sparrowhawk who becomes a wizard's apprentice.

6. William Gibson's Neuromancer (1984) introduced cyberspace in the story of a young cyberspace cowboy challenged to hack the unhackable.

7. Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End (1953) tells of aliens who offer peace to humans, who sacrifice greatness in accepting.

8. Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) imagines the world in 2021 after a war has destroyed most species and they are replaced by robotic clones and human-like androids; inspired Ridley Scott's 1982 movie Blade Runner.

9. Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon (1983) retells the story of King Arthur from the female point of view. Became a 2001 miniseries on TNT.

10. Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 (1953) creates a futuristic world in which books are banned and burned; remains a staple of high school reading lists and favorite of free speech advocates. A 1966 François Truffaut movie.

All of which I have read. Excellent.

Another interesting list is the top 50 science fiction and fantasy novels for socialists, of which I've read 9.

YES!

Nov. 19th, 2008 09:00 pm
semiotic_pirate: (MEME!)


Your result for Which Star Trek Ship Should You Command? Test...

Galaxy Class!

50% Flight_Control, 20% Tactical, 40% Science and 80% Command!

Congratulations! You have been assigned a Galaxy Class vessel! This class of starship is the top of the line when it comes to Command facilities and diplomatic amenities. It is perfect for any sort of mission of diplomacy!


Take Which Star Trek Ship Should You Command? Test
at HelloQuizzy



With that, I am off to bed and, perchance, to dream about flying about the universe in my sweet starship ride...
semiotic_pirate: (MEME!)
If you saw ME in a police car, what would you think I got arrested for?

Answer me, then post to your own journal and see how many crimes you get accused of.

Many thanks to [livejournal.com profile] crabbyolbastard
semiotic_pirate: (MEME!)

Your result for What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test...

Conscientious, Fulfilled, and Spiritual

18 Renaissance, 14 Islamic, 5 Ukiyo-e, -23 Cubist, -27 Abstract and 12 Impressionist!

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that profoundly affected European intellectual life. Beginning in Italy, and spreading to the rest of Europe by the 16th century, its influence affected literature, philosophy, religion, art, politics, science, and all other aspects of intellectual inquiry. Renaissance artists looked at the human aspect of life in their art. They did not reject religion but tended to look at it in it's purest form to create visions they thought depicted the ideals of religion. Painters of this time had their own style and created works based on morality, religion, and human nature. Many of the paintings depicted what they believed to be the corrupt nature of man.


People that like Renaissance paintings like things that are more challenging. They tend to have a high emotional stability. They also tend to be more conscientious then average. They have a basic understanding of human nature and therefore are not easily surprised by anything that people may do. They enjoy life and enjoy living. They are very aware of their own mortality but do not dwell on the end but what they are doing in the present. They enjoy learning, but may tend to be a bit more closed minded to new ideas as they feel that the viewpoint they have has been well researched and considered. These people are more old fashioned and not quite as progressive. They enjoy the finer things in life like comfort, a good meal, and home life. They tend to be more spiritual or religious by nature. They are open to new aesthetic experiences.

Take What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test



-----------

Part of the reason I chose the pictures I did was that, in a great majority of the cases, the two out of the three pictures were of crappy quality. None of the deeper aspects (like when you are standing in front of the painting or mosaic, etc.) comes through in the images. Really, a silly test. Am I old fashioned CoB?
semiotic_pirate: (MEME!)
I'm going to participate in a meme... Though I have rarely posted/participated in interactive memes - not sure if I've ever done one of these kinds - I've decided this one is just too interesting. That and it isn't as intensive as the 50 question challenges.

Why Not?

Post a picture in my comments of what you think describes me when you think about what/who I am.

Give no written explanation though. Just an image.

Copy and paste into your own journal and see what others think about you in pictures!
semiotic_pirate: (MEME!)

Your result for The Attachment Style Test...

The Free Agent

13% Anxiety Over Abandonment and 20% Avoidance Of Intimacy

You like to be independent, to play by your own rules. You're not terribly interested in finding a partner and settling down, and it makes you nervous to imagine that someone might depend on you for anything. Were you to find the right partner--someone as independent as you, probably--you'd not be too put out about sharing your adventures with him/her.



Fictional characters with whom you might identify: Han Solo (Star Wars), Beatrice ("Much Ado About Nothing")



HanSolo.jpg Beatrice.jpg




Other Attachment Types:
Secure: The Unicorn | The Cuddleslut | The Free Agent
Preoccupied: The Cling Wrap | The Squid | The Insect
Fearful: The Doormat | The Leper | The Exile
Dismissing: The Hermit | The Stone | The Player
Confused: The Waffler

Take The Attachment Style Test at HelloQuizzy




-------------------------------------

Made me want to watch Much Ado About Nothing again to see how Beatrice acts... Am I? I used to be very much more clingy and anxious. But then I started to feel and display my ovaries. I made conscious decisions not to be clingy nor anxious - and kept holding to those decisions. Had an effect it did.

Hey. Nonny. Nonny.

Mind Meme

Mar. 26th, 2008 04:22 pm
semiotic_pirate: (MEME!)
Blame this one on [livejournal.com profile] tambyrd




Your Thinking is Concrete and Sequential



You are precise, orderly, and realistic.

You tend to get to the point and get things done.



Difficult, detailed work is easy for you. You take things step by step.

Time limits aren't a problem for you either. You work well with deadlines.



What does drive you crazy is any sort of task that isn't precisely laid out.

You don't like anything to be ambiguous. You prefer to deal with the facts at hand.




Gah. Gonna need to take a nap soon I think.
semiotic_pirate: (MEME!)
Ye gods! I decided to do this "What spice are you?" meme... Hrm. I wonder how this works out with a similar meme (made for cheese) which labeled me as Camembert cheese?



You Are Black Pepper



You may be considered ordinary by some, but you're far from boring.

You elevate the mood of any discussion, and people miss you when you're not around.

You are secretly very dominant and powerful. Most can only take you in small doses.



Thanks to [livejournal.com profile] tambyrd, a newly found person on my f-list. I found a few people by searching for my moniker via Who Links To Me. Strangely, some people read their friend's f-lists and saw a post I made a while back and then linked back to it.

-----------------

In other news, the Webinar discussing the TFA in-person interview went well. It was an interesting experience at least, even if it wasn't all that informative. Anything to take the nervous edge off of the anticipation. My favorite part were the congratulations on making it this far in the hiring process. The more I read about the TFA, the more it seems highly selective and exclusive - a real gem for the resume.

I got my lesson plan all set. I will be able to teach the lesson within the five minutes given and will be providing two handouts as they would appear for the target student of said lesson. Now to practice, practice, practice to get the timing and coordination of writing and talking down. I've got to get some chalk and put it, some regular markers, and some dry erase markers in my kitbag for the day because the word from the webinar is that they will provide the writing surface ONLY and cannot specify which type of surface it will be.

This makes me wonder how many people stop through without commenting. I'm wondering how much I should continue to f-lock if I want to encourage this type of phenomenon. This place is, after all, sometimes meant to be a forum that encourages discussion - even if that discussion doesn't actually occur here.
semiotic_pirate: (MEME!)
thanks go to [livejournal.com profile] morgan_dhu for reminding me of this one:


NerdTests.com says I'm a Kinda Dorky Nerd God.  What are you?  Click here!
semiotic_pirate: (OH NOZ!)
First sentence or two of the first post from each month this year:

January: Aaarrgh!

February: “Because the number of birth-giving machines and devices is fixed, all we can ask for is for them to do their best per head,” he said.

March: Okay, any theories people because I am just well... I don't think they could kill off her character.

April: Hello there strangers!

May: I got all the way through the first out of three problems on my take home final as well as finishing the basic outline (based on class notes & powerpoint presentations) for my other final.

June: All previous reports are bullshit.

July: Hey out there!

August: Got this from Petsmart today along with this because one of our cats is getting cantankerous and old and well... Kind of like CoB really.

September: I pity the fool (Windows XP good, Vista bad)

October: If there were something you could take after experiencing a painful or traumatic event that would permanently weaken your memory of what had just happened, would you take it?

November: The key is the density of the network - to make it convenient enough to the consumer to make it worth their while.

December: A couple of weeks ago CoB's dad calls me and we start talking about finding a firing range somewhere nearby that we can go to for target shooting.
semiotic_pirate: (MEME!)
Make the horses SING! That was just way too much fun for such a simple site. This for me qualifies as a meme and is labeled as such. Have fun with the mindlessness and addictiveness of the singing horses animation.

Meme Alert

Nov. 9th, 2007 02:18 pm
semiotic_pirate: (MEME!)
Seems I caught the accent meme-bug. Again, no surprising result here. Sheesh.

What American accent do you have? (Best version so far)

Northeast New England

The kind of accent they have in Boston. There is more to it than just r's. Like, you say "don" and "dawn" the same while the people down in NYC don't.

Personality Test Results

Click Here to Take This Quiz
Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.


Second Paychecks Day! W00T! On my way out to collect one, the other will arrive in the mail tomorrow.
semiotic_pirate: (OMG!  OMG!  OMG!)
My LiveJournal Trick-or-Treat Haul
semiotic_pirate goes trick-or-treating, dressed up as Red Riding Hood.
crabbyolbastard gives you 2 red-orange pineapple-flavoured pieces of taffy.
densaer gives you 16 pink grape-flavoured jawbreakers.
ginmar gives you 15 brown pineapple-flavoured pieces of taffy.
itzwicks gives you 15 green lime-flavoured jawbreakers.
kadath gives you 1 red blueberry-flavoured pieces of bubblegum.
not_secure tricks you! You get a dead frog.
puf_almighty tricks you! You get a dead frog.
rjlippincott tricks you! You lose 18 pieces of candy!
sparkindarkness tricks you! You get a rock.
sunfell gives you 17 white spearmint-flavoured wafers.
semiotic_pirate ends up with 48 pieces of candy, a dead frog, a dead frog, and a rock.
Go trick-or-treating! Username:
Another fun meme brought to you by rfreebern.
semiotic_pirate: (evil cheshire grin)




You're Alice's Adventures in Wonderland!

by Lewis Carroll

After stumbling down the wrong turn in life, you've had your mind
opened to a number of strange and curious things. As life grows curiouser and curiouser,
you have to ask yourself what's real and what's the picture of illusion. Little is coming
to your aid in discerning fantasy from fact, but the line between them is so blurry that
it's starting not to matter. Be careful around rabbit holes and those who smile too much,
and just avoid hat shops altogether.



Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.



I am sooo not surprised at this result. Of course, I cheated a bit. I first found myself as Anne of Green Gables but the blurb had the nerve to assume (and say) that I have the emotional fortitude of cottage cheese. I've got more emotional fortitude than that! I didn't agree and decided I must have messed up somewhere. I then chose odds instead of evens. And there you have it!

It is so much more apropos, since CoB mentions feeling like he's gone down the rabbit hole on occasion when strange things are encountered in his life. And my favorite character IS the Cheshire cat.
semiotic_pirate: (MEME!)

Chameleon Unit
What's your malfunction?



Well, sure, if you also add to this that I am an introvert... Heh.
semiotic_pirate: (MEME!)
Of course, my geeky side came out when I decided to post my results... I used an html editor in my widgets to cut out the extraneous stuff - like some picture and this person's other tests. Myah!







, you're now logged in!


Below you'll find your test result. After, continue on to your
homescreen to discover what we're about.







Pure Nerd

91 % Nerd, 39% Geek, 13% Dork

For The Record:

A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.
You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd.

The times, they are a-changing. It used to be that being exceptionally smart led to being unpopular, which would ultimately lead to picking up all of the traits and tendences associated with the "dork." No-longer. Being smart isn't as socially crippling as it once was, and even more so as you get older: eventually being a Pure Nerd will likely be replaced with the following label: Purely Successful.

Congratulations!


Thanks Again! -- THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST



My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:
free online datingfree online dating
You scored higher than 99% on nerdiness
free online datingfree online dating
You scored higher than 99% on geekosity
free online datingfree online dating
You scored higher than 99% on dork points

semiotic_pirate: (warm glow)
Xmas meme behind the cut....

Read more... )

I added the last question. If anyone could think of other questions, feel free to pitch in. What are your preferences?
semiotic_pirate: (MEME!)

Satis



Peace-loving and tolerant, receptive to wealth, analytical and science-minded, tender towards those who are not ignorant, can sometimes be angry.

Colors: male: deep red, female: deep blue
Compatible Signs:
Amon-Ra, Set
Dates:
Jan 1 - Jan 7, Jun 19 - Jun 28, Sep 1 - Sep 7, Nov 18 - Nov 26

Role: Goddess who protected the sources of the Nile and goddess of the cataract at the border of Egypt and Nubia
Appearance:
A woman wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt with antelope horns on the sides.
Sacred animal:
antelope

What is Your Egyptian Zodiac Sign?
Designed by CyberWarlock of Warlock's Quizzles and Quandaries


semiotic_pirate: (MEME!)
Thanks to [livejournal.com profile] sunfell and [livejournal.com profile] crabbyolbastard for making me want to take this... I had seen it before and resisted but, hell, I wanted to belong to the group.


You paid attention during 97% of high school!

85-100% You must be an autodidact, because American high schools don't get scores that high! Good show, old chap!

Do you deserve your high school diploma?
Make a Quiz




Edit:

The only question I got wrong was (True/False) Did Christopher Columbus land his ships in/on North America in 1492. I, taught with the old "In Fourteen hundred and ninety two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue" sing-song telling of his discoverty of North America. More recent scholarship has Columbus only landing as close as the Bahamas - which doesn't count apparently. Besides, the Norse may have been the first discoverers... while the settlers of North America had crossed the land bridge in Alaska long long ago.

The arguable one, According to the CATHOLIC religion, who is referred to in/as The Immaculate Conception Jesus or Mary. The answer is Mary. (I recalled this from a while back... that Mary had to be born without sin to be the mother of Jesus to begin with, so she was born free of original sin.) CoB complained that this question biased the test for those who attended Catholic School. I agreed.

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