Choose Wisely Challenge Showing 601-650 of 1,373

[Lauren (Sugar & Snark)]

Whoops! I posted form my blackberry and thought the first 2 hadn't gone through. This is probably a bad omen - my task will to read a book about Transvestite Cavemen or something like that, I just know it!

[Barbara]

I know! When I post something from my blackberry it never gives a confirmation. It takes forever and stays on processing, but then when I check, it is posted. Very weird.

Well three times is the charm so maybe you get to read any book you want. There are a couple of those in there somewhere. At least that is what Lu says :)

[Riana]

Okay I really enjoyed that debate! I was following it silently because I know nothing about the subject to take part, but I did enjoy it! I think you should consider a friendly debate corner, I for one will find it very entertaining!

[Barbara]

I am glad you enjoyed it and you are welcome to contribute even if you know nothing about the subject. Sometimes those kind of comments are the most interesting :)
I am not sure if a friendly debate corner would work but these kind of debates often pop up in various places. Last year Lauren S and I were reading Paradise Lost by Milton and we had a very interesting debate about God and religion. Emma who has an extensive knowledge of the Bible also joined in. It should still be there in the book discussion section.
But if you have something you want to debate about please feel free to open a discussion about it and I am sure there are several people who would be happy to share their opinions. I will be among them!

[Lu]

I'm always up for a debate about archaeology, cause the field is so vast and nothing is really set in stone, I feel like a new idea or find is discovered every day :)

Lol Lauren lets see:

28 - Read a book about Vampires - bad ones not the I'm good I don't drink from people type.

[Riana]

Yeah Lauren did not get the transvestite cavemen one, which means I can still get it! Honestly, is nobody curious as to how cavemen succeeded in pulling of the look without makeup?? o_O

[Lauren (Sugar & Snark)]

All is forgive! And to think I was going to call in sick and leave you to do the BEE alone as punishment if you gave me a bad one. Luck for you and me!

[Lu]

Nooo don't leave me to do it alone! To be honest if we didn't do it today, I wouldn't mind :P

Hahah and the cavemen without makeup! They might have used mud and leaves to give them that alluring look, you never know :)

[Varla Fiona]

Thanks for a very interesting discussion! I unfortunately wasn't online last night to join in, but I had a good read now. Lu & Barbara, what do you do that you are both so clued up on these kinds of issues? I think it would have been an awesome challenge!! Trilobites are cool, why wouldn't someone write about them?

[Lu]

Glad you liked it Varla :)

I know Barbara studied Archaeology, but I will let her tell you all about it :)

I have a degree in Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Culture. I am currently specializing in Archaeozoology (Animal bones) and I am finishing up my Honours next year :) I first need the specialization knowledge (been about 2 years of training) before I could continue and do the next degree in that direction. But I'll be ready next year and I have already been accepted, yay :)

[Varla Fiona]

Wow, that is cool. Where are you studying? I finished my Honours in Zoology last year and currently work at a Snake Park which is connected with a Museum so get to be involved in Research too. We have some awesome robotic African Dinosaurs as well. My brother has his Honours in Archaeology, focusing on Rock Art from Wits, but now works in computers.

[Lu]

The specialization is an internship/mentorship, so not at an intuition. But finishing my honour at Tuks next year :)

Ooooh which museum? And wow a snake park sounds so interesting! I will have to come and check it out :) Where is it?

[Varla Fiona]

It's Bayworld, which was originally called the Port Elizabeth Museum, which kind of tells you where we are. We are officially a museum complex, but most people know us for the fact that we don't have dolphins anymore. OK, we still own them, but they are housed in Hong Kong until we get funding to upgrade our outdated facility.

[Lu]

Well when I'm in PE for some strange reason I'll come and stop by :)

[Varla Fiona]

Great! I look forward to it...

[Barbara]

Yeah I studied archaelogy and I have a masters in Archaeology of the Americas. I took full advantage of my time at university and took lots of classes. Of course a lot of them were archaeology related. During my bachelors I took the introductory courses in several cultural regions (Egypt, Rome, Greece, Mesopotamia, India, Japan, China, South East Asia, Early Christian, Palestine, South America, North America, Turkey) and of course a class in Prehistory :)
I also took several courses in theoretical archaeology, experimental archaeology (I baked my own pot and made my own bone beads and flint arrow head(the last one I only tried, I wasn't any good at it)), maritime/underwater archaeology. Some zoology and botany stuff, not much but some.
Of course when I did my masters most of my classes were concentrated on the Americas but I still had time to do some evolution and forensic stuff and learning how the skeleton looks like and one summer I spend putting 10 of them together from a box full of bones and analysing what kind of diseases they suffered from during life. I learned several Indian languages (Maya (both the spoken language and hieroglyphs), Mixtec, Nahuatl, Popoloca, Quechua) and Spanish, took some linguistic courses, history, arthistory and anthropology classes. I learned to read manuscripts from the 16-17th centuries.
I did some fieldwork here in the Netherlands and in the Caribbean and lived in Mexico for 6 months to do research for my final paper. For 4 months I also was the head of a department of volunteers that "cleaned" and sorted artefacts and samples on a major dig in the Netherlands.
I think that is about it. As you see I really took advantage of my time and that is one of the reasons I took so long to get my masters. I had way too much fun taking all kinds of classes. There were also some problems with my parents but mostly I had too much fun.
I like to keep up with what happens around me and I like to read a lot about a lot of things. So most of the times I can say something intelligent about a subject, but archaeology is and always will be my first love. Sadly there is hardly any work here in this field and I cannot make my living doing archaeology. But who knows what waits in my future :)

[Varla Fiona]

WOW, that sounds like fun! I really believe studying is fun, but few people understand that concept. Even though I have never had a desire to make archeology my career some of that would have been awesome to try, just for fun! Like experimental archeology or learning Mayan!!

One of the reasons I haven't started my Masters is because I have so many friends who have theirs and don't have jobs or have completely unrelated jobs. It also is much easier to get all the studying done before working full time, which I found out doing my Honours. It took me three years, partly cos my Manager did not give me any support and actually tried to make my life difficult!

I know jobs are rare, but they do exist and it is possible to make a living out of science, so good luck and I hope you get a rare opportunity which will support you while you live out your passion.

[Barbara]

Studying is fun, I wish I could spend my whole life at a university taking classes.

The Mayan was pretty hard since it has sounds and concepts we don't have in Dutch so that took some getting used to. But it was worth it, just to take classes given by that particular professor. That man was a genius! He published scientific work in Dutch, English, French, German, Spanish and Portugese. And I mean publish, it wasn't translated, he wrote it in those languages. He spoke all 25 dialects of Mayan and a couple of other Indian languages. I also took classes from him on the development of languages and how they are related. That man was brilliant!
But we were lucky when I was at univesity to have several professors who were at the top of their field giving us lessons. And in one case we had a woman who was married to one of our teachers (who was an expert on ancient indian manuscripts) and she was a native Mixtec and she taught us the language and culture. We were blessed with that.

I knew going in that I would probably never work in my field since the jobs in archaeology are rare in the Netherlands and especially in my field. Then when my parents got ill, my dreams of emigrating to Mexico went out the window because I didn't want to be that far apart if something happened. I also knew that part of going to university is learning a way of thinking and learning a certain skill set that you can use in life and which you can use in various jobs. So I choose to study something I love instead of something out of which I could make a living.

And in a way I am still studying. I read a lot of non-fiction books (right now I am heavily into the English Royal families) and do a lot of research on the internet to fill in the gaps that the books leave.

Education is something you do for yourself, to further your knowledge and broaden your horizon. So it is never to late do start and get your masters. It isn't strange to do it later in life. In the Netherlands there are lots of people who do it after they retire. So who knows maybe someday you will do it and if not, than that is fine too :)

It would be nice to make archaeology my job but my biggest passion is life and I get to live that every day and if I can't make my hobbies my job, I will make damn sure that I fill my free time with them and that I do. So while it would be nice to work in the field of science, it isn't a great regret that it isn't that way now. Like you said it may change in the future and if not ..., ah well :)

[Lauren (Sugar & Snark)]

Finished No. 28 can I have No. 30 please.

[Lu]

30 - Read a book that has been made into a movie

[Lauren (Sugar & Snark)]

It seems easy enough but I hate reading books after I have watched the movie because it affects the way I imagine things. And (as you know Lu) if there is one thing I do more then read it is watch movies! So it's hard to think of one I haven't seen! Any ideas?

[Lauren]

FInally finished no.9 - read a book with a redhead on the cover!

Can I have no.33 please? If that's taken can I please have no.305?

[Lu]

305 - Read a book about Aliens

[Lauren]

Great! I've got one lined up :)

[Lauren (Sugar & Snark)]

Hi done with No. 30

Can I have No. 31 pls

[Lu]

31 - Read a book that is set in a small town

[Lauren (Sugar & Snark)]

Ok thanks, sounds very do-able.

[Varla Fiona]

Finished 272 - Read a Classic with The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Task 179 next please!

[Lu]

179 - Read a book you've never heard of before getting this task

[Barbara]

I have finished task 540 - Read a Mystery
I have read The Death Maze by Ariana Franklin for this task.

Could I have number 421 please?

Oh and Lu, I say that according to the scoreboard I was still working on task 500, but I finished that one on 17 May and I then got task 540, which I finished today.

[Lu]

421 - Read a Book with a type of Candy in the title (chocolate, bon bons, etc.)

Thanks for telling me! Fixed :)

[Barbara]

Oh not too hard to do but it might be the first task for which I have to buy a book.

Thanks for fixing it. It's no big deal, but it is nice when everything is correct and I know from monitoring challenges myself, how easily a mistake creeps in, no matter how vigilant you are.

[Lauren (Sugar & Snark)]

Hi Finished No. 31


Can I have No. 34 pls

[Lauren (Sugar & Snark)]

Barbara wrote: "Oh not too hard to do but it might be the first task for which I have to buy a book.

Thanks for fixing it. It's no big deal, but it is nice when everything is correct and I know from monitoring ch..."

Sounds like a yummy challenge Barbara!

Do you never download?

Is this because you:
a) morally object?
b) don't have a device to read it on?
c) are old school and just love the real thing?

[Lu]

34 - Read a book that has the word "city" in it.

Lol I like the quiz Lauren! Make one for me, make one for me!

[Claudia]

I think in Barbara's case it is option
d) All of the above. :P

[Lauren (Sugar & Snark)]

Claudia wrote: "I think in Barbara's case it is option
d) All of the above. :P"

Hehe I forgot option d) and e) None of the above!

[Lauren (Sugar & Snark)]

Lu (The Muggle) wrote: "34 - Read a book that has the word "city" in it.

Lol I like the quiz Lauren! Make one for me, make one for me!"

If I wanted to get technical, all I would need to do here is find a book that has the word city written some where on one of it's pages. But I am assuming that you mean the word city has to be in the title?

[Barbara]

I don't morally object to ebooks!!!!
I just don't read them:)

I would read them but I don't have a device to read them on. I was looking into buying a kindle right before I got fired and then didn't because of the money issue of not having a job. Although if I hadn't bought all the books I bought since then I could have afforded to buy one by now.
I almost got an ipad for my last birthday but I wasn't forthcoming with the technical details. My mum wanted to buy one for me and she couldn't figure it out. She was dropping hints but I can be really thickheaded when I am not looking for these things, so I didn't get what she was after and thought she wanted a toy for herself and talked her out of it.
I must say I do love the real thing and can get excited by the smell of a book printed on the right paper and with the right ink. It is one of the things I hate about buying books online. I can't see what the inside looks like or what it smells like. I have been known to not buy books because they didn't smell right.
Even if I had a device to read books on I would still be reading most books the oldfashion way . But I do want one because some books are only released as ebooks especially independent books and because of the ease when I am going somewhere. Like when I go to a convention in the US. I always leave on a Thursday, the convention will keep me occupied fulltime on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday and I will leave in the afternoon on Monday. Even though I am not gone for a full week I will bring 4 books with me and I always buy some at the airport. Because of the long flights most of them will be read. If I had an e-reader my suitcase would be lighter and I could buy more stuff in the US. And in case anyone was wondering I will not leave my books behind if I go back home after spending a holiday somewhere. I don't suggest to anyone else to leave their children behind so why would I leave my books behind just to make room in my suitcase for something else.

[Barbara]

Lauren wrote: "Lu (The Muggle) wrote: "34 - Read a book that has the word "city" in it.

Lol I like the quiz Lauren! Make one for me, make one for me!"

If I wanted to get technical, all I would need to do here i..."

Maybe it is in the name????
Lauren S is also always looking for loopholes :D

[Riana]

Barbara wrote: "I don't morally object to ebooks!!!!
I just don't read them:)

I would read them but I don't have a device to read them on. I was looking into buying a kindle right before I got fired and then didn..."

Well nothing will ever beat a real book! But I must say it really is very convenient! I didn't want a kindle but got a tablet for different reasons but once I discovered the ebook application I was hooked! But I still like to reading old fashioned books best! Like you say, it is in the smell, but also the feel and the sound of the paper. Then again I work at printers, so I get my daily fix anyway! But hey being someone that was not quite convinced on it, I can recommend it, so when you are able to afford it, don't think twice :-)

[Lu]

Lauren wrote: "Lu (The Muggle) wrote: "34 - Read a book that has the word "city" in it.

Lol I like the quiz Lauren! Make one for me, make one for me!"

If I wanted to get technical, all I would need to do here i..."

You all know I meant in the title :P

[Lu]

The thing about books vs ereaders:

I love my books! Love them! And I read them in the bath :)
I now find it really hard to read a actual book in bed. It is uncomfortable. I lay on my side reading and that is what makes the ereader awesome. I prop it on a pillow and just prod a button. When it is cold it is the best cause you can put your hands under the blanket and just extend you finger to push the button and turn the page.

I tried reading a actual book in bed the other day. I swear my hands got tired, cold and the I couldn't read on my side :(

So I love both :)
One for the bath and one for bed :)

[Lauren (Sugar & Snark)]

For me, I will always love the real thing but I read a lot! Like 140 books a year a lot and I used to be so precious about my books. I had to own every one, if they were getting worse for wear I would cover them in plastic film. I was seriously anal!

But it just got to the point where I couldn't afford the habit and I knew I would be better off in the long term downloading. Even though the initial down payment is steep.

I still miss going into a book shop and buying up the shelves!But the money I save is so worth it!

[Barbara]

I know. Even in a slow year I will read at least 100 books. Last year I read 160 books and I will reach that number again this year.
I own every book I read and a lot I haven't read yet. The good thing is that when I can afford to buy books I buy more than I can rad so that will get me through the periods when I can't afford to buy as many :)

I have looked at books I want to buy and what they cost as an e-book and with sites as bookdepo there really isn't that much difference and then my preference is a real book of paper.

I will get my e-reader because like I said it is a good thing to have when you travel or are on the road a lot, but I will always love and read paper books :)

[Lu]

The Kindle's are going for $80 which is very cheap on amazon!

[Lauren (Sugar & Snark)]

Ah that's where the potential morally objectionable part come in. I download 90% of my books for "free" But I hear you can't read Ebub or Pdf on a kindle which is pretty limiting!

[Lu]

But the free kindle books out there are amazing!!! I get atleast 2 a day...

<--- addict

[Lauren (Sugar & Snark)]

Yeah but if you can read on pdf you can find almost any book you want for free. The world is my oyster!

[Varla Fiona]

Glad to see I am not the only one who goes the "free" download route!

I love real books, but can't afford as many as I read & the library here isn't that up to date. I currently read on my phone but am getting a tablet in July. That gives me the freedom to read various formats of ebooks as well as all the other features I can use the tab for!