Bad season for heroes
Annnnnnnnd….there goes Ray Bradbury! (Nope, nobody had him in the dead pool this time, though he’s been a popular pick in the past).
He deserved more honor as a pure writer than he ever got; I’m sure because he wrote science fiction. Anyway, he got all the praise available to a science fiction writer. It’s probably thirty years since I’ve read Bradbury, and I’ve sat here remembering story after story.
Fittingly, I just finished this CSM science quiz when I read the news. I got a disappointing 69. Why don’t you go see if you can kick my ass? Do it for Ray.
And let’s have somebody I don’t like and admire die next, K?
Posted: June 6th, 2012 under booze, personal.
Comments: 35
Comments
Comment from Allen
Time: June 6, 2012, 11:01 pm
I got a 94, but I did it for Norris. Never mind it’s a twisted joke from many moons ago. I loved Ray Bradbury’s books.
Comment from Armybrat
Time: June 6, 2012, 11:03 pm
I am embarrassed to report that I scored only 30 of 50 correct. I plead alcohol! 🙁
Comment from Uncle Badger
Time: June 6, 2012, 11:04 pm
Ugh! Been a bad time, lately. Always admired Bradbury. RIP.
Comment from Skandia Recluse
Time: June 6, 2012, 11:10 pm
78%, Ima good guesser on multiple guess exams. Never like the two books by Bradbury that I read.
Comment from Vince
Time: June 7, 2012, 12:05 am
i got a 62 … 🙁
the nuns would not be pleased
Comment from RayH
Time: June 7, 2012, 12:09 am
84%. I only missed one through sheer carelessness which is much better than I usually do on multiple guess tests.
Comment from Christopher Taylor
Time: June 7, 2012, 12:16 am
Asimov, Clark, Heinlein, Bradbury, they’re all gone now. All those incredible writers (admittedly Asimov wasn’t as great as the others) gone. That was an amazing generation of writers, guys who didn’t just write about fascinating places and events but helped shape science and the culture by their writing. Only guys like Orwell managed to do that, and these sci fi writers just are not being replaced by a new generation.
Comment from Bruno Braun
Time: June 7, 2012, 12:20 am
I can’t say I’ve ever had a disappointing 69.
Comment from steve
Time: June 7, 2012, 12:55 am
I got a disappointing 80….I lacked a certain amount of patience, not knowing how damned long the test would be.
Rushed too many answers!
And let’s have somebody I don’t like and admire die next, K?
And what, precisely are you trying to say, invoking potassium at the end of that sentence?
Comment from Can’t hark my cry
Time: June 7, 2012, 12:55 am
I gave up–some I thought I knew and got wrong, some I knew and got right, some I guessed and got either right or wrong, some I figured out from clues in the way the question was asked, utterly unrelated to scientific knowledge; I decided I couldn’t view the ultimate result as proving anything about my basic grounding in science. I am, however, intrigued: there are apparently 50 questions; a score on a scale of 0 to 100 is therefore presumably the number of correct answers times 2. How could you get a 69? (Yeah, I’m no science whiz–but simple arithmetic? Bring it on!)
Comment from Rich Rostrom
Time: June 7, 2012, 1:20 am
94 – and as Hark wondered, how did you get a 69 when only even percentage results are possible?
I was a huge SF reader, but I never cared much for Bradbury. Too “soft” for my taste.
Comment from SCOTTtheBADGER
Time: June 7, 2012, 1:24 am
I have always loved his story about the sea monster that fell in love with the lighthouse.
Comment from Steamboat McGoo
Time: June 7, 2012, 1:51 am
96 – and I can’t believe I hurriedly got one wrong in my OWN EFFING FIELD! Argh! Repeat after me: a Watt is Joule per second. A Watt is a Joule per second….
Weaz – maybe someday we could have a “Bad Guys (and Gals) Only” Dead Pool? And – yes – O’Bugger would qualify for the list.
I mourn RB’s passing.
Comment from Scubafreak
Time: June 7, 2012, 2:22 am
@Scott – I actually have a vague recollection of reading that one.
I love the fact that the climax of BLADE RUNNER was filmed in the Bradbury Hotel….
*i hope the runnybabbits that live in the bushes outside of my office window are under good cover, it’s coming down HARD right now…*
Comment from Scubafreak
Time: June 7, 2012, 2:26 am
Did anyone else here ever watch Ray Bradbury Theater when it was running?
Comment from David Gillies
Time: June 7, 2012, 4:27 am
I got 49/50 (stupid meteorology). They were mostly stamp collecting quetions, though. Nothing analytical.
I haven’t read Bradbury in years. I’ve read most of his stuff I guess, although I never got round to Something WIcked This Way Comes.
Comment from catnip
Time: June 7, 2012, 4:41 am
I watched it religiously, and have the complete series on DVD. It was really inexpensive, about ten bucks. There are 65 half-hour stories, some terrific, quite a few not so hot. It’s definitely an 80’s viewing experience, technically dated, but very nostalgic. So many of the actors are no longer with us.
Comment from OU_Gryphon
Time: June 7, 2012, 6:09 am
Another 49/50. Should have gone with my first answer on that one I missed.
Comment from Ric Locke
Time: June 7, 2012, 7:19 am
Missed three. But I’ve been sick… stupid periodic table [mumble mumble grump]
Comment from Scubafreak
Time: June 7, 2012, 8:13 am
Jeeze! I know the storm was big, but THIS SUCKS!!!
Comment from Oceania
Time: June 7, 2012, 9:08 am
What storm?
Forgot to mention Sweasel, that you can by rule of thumb multiply the alpha fraction by 4 for the true dose …
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: June 7, 2012, 10:12 am
Oh, FINE, Miz Smarty:
Comment from Can’t hark my cry
Time: June 7, 2012, 10:32 am
😆
Comment from Becca
Time: June 7, 2012, 2:35 pm
30 out of 50.
I’m too stupid to read this blog. After all these years, and I never knew.
Why didn’t someone tell me??
*shuffles off to begin regularly reading Daily Kos*
Comment from Malcolm Kirkpatrick
Time: June 7, 2012, 9:38 pm
96. I forgot definitions of physical units and had to guess some. And, dang “nimbus”.
Alas, Bradbury. Few good books become movies as good as the book. __The Illustrated Man__ did that. Saw that one in the Johnston Atoll walk-in (outdoor, like a drive-in) theater on Johnston Atoll in 1971.
Comment from Sven in Colorado
Time: June 7, 2012, 10:15 pm
74%
Physics and I never got along well. Might be one of the reasons I have broken so many parts of my body, trying to disprove Newtonian laws. Did much better in Biology and Geology.
Grew up on Bradbury short stories and Heinlein novels. “The Martian Chronicles” still my favorites. Heinlein….well, that would have to go to “Glory Road” followed closely by “Starship Troopers”.
Comment from Scubafreak
Time: June 7, 2012, 10:22 pm
@Sven – My fav. Heinlein books would have to be Starship Troopers and Friday.
I never really got into Bradbury’s books, but I LOVED Ray Bradbury Theater as a kid….
Comment from Scubafreak
Time: June 7, 2012, 10:55 pm
39/11
Comment from Paula Douglas
Time: June 8, 2012, 12:00 am
82%. I blame the outsize number of questions having to do with physics measurements and designations: joule, erg, watt, lambda, alpha…What am I, Carl Sagan? How the hell should I know? It was weighted against natural history. How are all the former Ranger Rick fans supposed to compete with a bias like that in place? I *knew* oxygen was #8. Dammit.
Comment from Anonymous
Time: June 8, 2012, 10:30 pm
49/50. Made the same stupid mistake as McGoo on the Watt vs. Joule question. Came very close to just quitting several times ’cause I hate , hate, hate internet quizzes that reload the entire page for each question, even more when it also reloads for each answer. I wish they’d come up with a less tedious way to generate page hits, like maybe interesting content.
Y’know, like here.
Comment from gebrauchshund
Time: June 8, 2012, 10:38 pm
The other thing I forgot was to write my name on the test.
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: June 8, 2012, 10:54 pm
I know. I found the interface annoying (and transparent).
Comment from ExpressoBold
Time: June 10, 2012, 11:13 pm
Yeah, me too, same score:
68 points of 100 points
I have no excuses. I didn’t study for the test. Thank goodness for obvious clues!
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