Uh-oh. Didn't know.

Jojo sent along this lovely image of Spring flowers, along with a puzzle on the flip side of the card:

Do you know that Prypiat is the place of the greatest...

And then asked the question, "what do you know about this place?"

Nothing, at first. Then I learned the answer:Chernobyl. Apropos, in light of developments in Japan.

Gone the way of the teletype?

Claire wonders, as I have myself,

Now that we are in the digital age, will handwritten cards and letters make a comeback?

A recent article in the New York Times exclaimed that we no longer make phone calls. Communication that once took place via phone conversation now thrives via text message and email. I just hope that the handwritten note doesn't disappear altogether, following the phone call into oblivion!

My usual desire

From Portugal, on a very cool card, comes this question:

If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be?

As usual, I want peace. I would change the tendency humans have to violence.

Right up to the edge!

Denise, from Canada, sent this cool postcard; I'm not sure who's taking the greater risk: the skier or the photographer!

On the back, she writes:

Will you let fear of unstability stop you?

I do, at times. Coming too close to "the edge" isn't something I'm good at.

It's all about us, right?

Grethe asks, on behalf of the future occupants of Earth:

How come we, in the so-called industrial world, are so unwilling to lower our demands for unnecessary and luxury goods, even though we know that we cannot continue to consume as we do now if coming generations shall have an inhabitable Earth to inherit?

My thought is that many of us do not realize the impact of our individual actions. We believe that what we want isn't so much. It's the "other guy" who is greedy.

Bigger? Smaller?

Cat, from Australia, and her friends were pondering this question over dinner:

If every atom was really a tiny universe, are humans giants or are we also just tiny atoms in a tiny universe making up something infinitely huge?

Well, if the size of our EGOs has anything to do with this puzzle, we are the biggest biggest. I'm kinda hoping for small-ish. I'd like to think of something more immense than the human ego.

It's not the EASY button, that's for sure!

But it's an easy answer, for me! Stacy from Ohio wants to know this:

If you had a magic button that would anonymously eliminate from the face of the earth anyone you wished, would you use it? Why or why not?

First, it's an easy answer for me: nope.

Second, it's a hard button to even consider pushing. I'm grateful that she didn't ask WHOM I would eliminate. That would be impossible to answer.

Don't Exactly Know This Either

Amu from Finland wants to know

What would you do if you won the lottery?

First, I'd make sure that the people I care about are cared for. Then, I might indulge in education... taking all the classes my brain could handle.

On the other hand, there's travel...

On the other, other hand, there's good works...

Don't Know Yet

Ilse, from Holland writes:

What is the biggest challenge you took in your life and how did you succeed?

I'm working on the "growing old gracefully" thing. I won't know if I succeeded because, as the author Clarissa Pinkola Estes has pointed out, old age is the one phase of our lives that we cannot look back on.

So long ago

The card from Belgium wasn't that long ago, really, but in light of current developments, it seems so. Justine wonders

What do you think of the oil spill in the Gulf? Do you think the President took the right decision to end it?

For people living in the Gulf states, I am sure it is as real now as it was then. On the world's stage, however, it seems so long ago.

Yummmmmm

Ness, the pierced poet from New Zealand, sent a recipe (reproduced below) and asked



What is your favorite meal?

First, I can't imagine having only ONE!


Second, I can imagine liking nearly any meal as long as I am enjoying the company of people I like!


Third, I still can't imagine having only ONE!

Here's the recipe:

6 oz (170 g) butter
6 oz (170 g) sugar
3 eggs
6 oz (170 g) flour
6 oz (170 g) cornflour
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
raspberry jam
icing sugar (confectioners' sugar)

Cream butter and sugar well, adding eggs one at a time.

Sift flours together twice.

Add flours and baking powder to butter/sugar/eggs.

Drop small, even teaspoonfuls onto greased baking sheets.

Bake 8-10 minutes at 400 degrees F (or 200 degrees C).

When cool, smear with raspberry jam and make into sandwiches. Dust with powdered sugar.



EAT!

Probably NOT

So, one of my favorite singer-songwriters, Susan Werner, sings a song called "Probably Not" and this question reminded me of it. A Post Crosser from Turkey wants to know:

Do you think that life is really fair to all of us?

No, probably not.

Check out Susan Werner's music, while you're googling about the place: http://susanwerner.com/

Tickling the old brain cells

Fromt Latvia:

On which side of the cup is its handle?

How long has the world's most intelligent man lived?

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

When will the world end?

YIKES! I know the answer to ONE of these questions. How about you?

Probably NOT healthy

Masha wants to know something intensely personal:

What is the worst thing you have done in your life?

I might have said this one before: I told someone that I no longer loved him when that was a lie.

Listening with other senses

Rita wonders

What will the stone tell me?

Whatever stories are hidden in the mysterious green depths of this stone can only be heard with senses other than hearing.

Um, no.

Greetz, from Germany, wants to know:

Would you eat your dog if it was your only way to survive?

If it had already perished from whatever it was that put us both in such a state of desperation, maybe. Otherwise, no.

Fasssssssssssssssssst?

Odessa, who is a young person from the Netherlands, writes a question on this very cool shaped card. She wonders

Is there anything faster than light?

To which I reply, the speed with which my cats descend the stairs when they know they will be getting a meal at the bottom!