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“Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right.”
― Foundation
― Foundation
“Two mathematicians were having dinner. One was complaining: ‘The average person is a mathematical idiot. People cannot do arithmetic correctly, cannot balance a checkbook, cannot calculate a tip, cannot do percents, …’ The other mathematician disagreed: ‘You’re exaggerating. People know all the math they need to know.’
Later in the dinner the complainer went to the men’s room. The other mathematician beckoned the waitress to his table and said, ‘The next time you come past our table, I am going to stop you and ask you a question. No matter what I say, I want you to answer by saying “x squared.”‘ She agreed. When the other mathematician returned, his companion said, ‘I’m tired of your complaining. I’m going to stop the next person who passes our table and ask him or her an elementary calculus question, and I bet the person can solve it.’ Soon the waitress came by and he asked: ‘Excuse me, Miss, but can you tell me what the integral of 2x with respect to x is?’ The waitress replied: ‘x squared.’ The mathematician said, ‘See!’ His friend said, ‘Oh … I guess you were right.’ And the waitress said, ‘Plus a constant.”
― Twenty Years before the Blackboard
Later in the dinner the complainer went to the men’s room. The other mathematician beckoned the waitress to his table and said, ‘The next time you come past our table, I am going to stop you and ask you a question. No matter what I say, I want you to answer by saying “x squared.”‘ She agreed. When the other mathematician returned, his companion said, ‘I’m tired of your complaining. I’m going to stop the next person who passes our table and ask him or her an elementary calculus question, and I bet the person can solve it.’ Soon the waitress came by and he asked: ‘Excuse me, Miss, but can you tell me what the integral of 2x with respect to x is?’ The waitress replied: ‘x squared.’ The mathematician said, ‘See!’ His friend said, ‘Oh … I guess you were right.’ And the waitress said, ‘Plus a constant.”
― Twenty Years before the Blackboard
“The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it.”
― Peter Pan
― Peter Pan
Stephen’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Stephen’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
Favorite Genres
Fantasy, Fiction, Graphic novels, Science fiction, Young-adult, Adult, Science Fiction Fantasy, Fantasy Romance, Epic, Mythology, Norse Mythology, Epic Fantasy, High Fantasy, Adventure, Dark Fantasy, Medieval Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Anthropomorphic fantasy, Magical realism, Celtic, Celtic fantasy, Alternate World Fantasy, Legend-Retelling Fantasy, Hard Fantasy, Gritty Fantasy, Science Fantasy, Low Fantasy, Mundane Fantasy, Animals, Animal Fiction, Fantastique, Action Fantasy, Non Magical Fantasy, Realistic Fiction, Realistic Fantasy, Legends, speculative-fiction, artificial-intelligence, robots, space, time-travel, Adult Fantasy, Animal Xenofiction, Xenofiction, Norse, and demons
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