Unanswered questions

98 cards... all in one shot!

I had STUFF going on, and unfortunately Post Crossing suffered collateral damage. I just caught up on my posting there, and I will now catch up on my posting here. After I post these questions, the "back of the card" project will go on hiatus until January 2012. I've got a new idea to try, but I need to catch up on other long overdue tasks.

In the meantime, entertain yourself with these questions:

From Svetlana, in Russia: Why do young children smile all the time (give their smiles to the world)?

From Amy, a Canadian living in Japan: What is the difference between honor and pride and if there is a difference, which is more valued in the American culture?

From Carolina, in Lisbon, Portugal: How deep can the relationship between two people who have different mother tongues be?

From Alexander, in Russia: What makes a person happy? Can the "American Dream" bring happiness?

From Patricia, in Holland: Do you think crying is a sign of weakness or of strength?

From Connie, in San Francisco, United States: What does peace look like to you?

From Wendy, in the Netherlands: Why can you still taste the garlic the morning after you've eaten it?

From Angie, in Russia: If you could rewrite the end of any book, what book would you choose and and why?

From Iris, in Albuquerque, New Mexico: What makes you tick?

From Veronica, in Malaysia: What can you break without touching it? (silence!)

From Yun, in Columbus, Ohio: What brings you to PostCrossing and what motivates your 2nd, 3rd, 4th year?

From Zhang Yuyu in Beijing, China: Should a girl marry a successful man or a promising one?

From Iolanda, in Portugal: What activities make you lose track of time?

From Elisabeth: If you could be an animal, which one would you pick?

From Piotr, in Poland: Do you believe in yourself?

From Ju, in Australia: Have you ever reflected on the ways your identity and send of self has changed over your life?

Three from Nela in Czechoslovakia: Do you believe people have free will? Do you think evil is only a lack of good? Do you think that education forms one's personality more than genes do?

From Japan: Do you like the US? Why?

From Jeff, in the Phillipines: Where do your files go when you empty your computer's trash bin?

From Marja, in Finland: Are people allowed to eat the meat of horses?

From Pleun, in the Netherlands: What was the most terrible dream you ever had?

From Canada: How are the cycles of our lives like oranges?

From Anastasia, in France: What events in your life did make you think of fate, destiny, fortune?

From Daniela, in Germany: How do you qualify being rich?

From Hildegarde, in Belgium: What do you do when you can't think of a TPQ, not even after trying for two days?

From Gabi, in Germany: Do you know wherefore a panda can do a handstand?

From the Ukraine: What does it mean to be "normal"?

From Sean, in England: If you could meet anyone living or dead, who would you choose to meet?

From Craig, a history teacher in Michigan: If Hitler had been accepted as an art student in Vienna, would World War II still have taken place?

From Renate, in Lithuania: What are five things that make you happy?

From Filia, in germany: Why does the hand of a wath always turn right, not left?

From Jodene, in Canada: If dogs are colourblind and people can see colour, what do you think is possible we are not seeing?

From Salt Lake City: Do you believe in the greenhouse effect?

From Shanghai: Light after darkness?

From Aurora, in Taiwan: What is the meaning of life?

From Germany: Could it be that the system is wrong?

From Joeanne, in Taiwan: If you only get one chance to do time travel, what will you do and why?

From Katya, in Ukraine: Why are people do afraid to make changes?

From Turek, in Poland: What came first, the chicken or the egg?

From Napsu, in Finland: What is the point when you have done enough and it all becomes housekeeping?

From Finland: How old is OLD?

From Eva, a German living in Spain who says she is "Germish:" Who am I?

From Allyson, in Canada: What is good about money?

From Catherine, in Miami, Florida: If we are dead when our lives have ended, what are we before we are born?

From Russia: Why do schools always suppress individuality?

From Cambodia: If you were to choose another country to live in, where would it be?

From Salla, in Finland: Do you believe in angels? Will they help us or are we carrying them?

From Lisa, in Canada: Why do human procrastinate? I WISH I KNEW THE ANSWER TO THIS ONE!

Merry Christmas?

Natalia sends a Christmas card in the summer! And she wonders...

What is the weirdest gift you ever received?

I guess that I have been an incredibly fortunate gift recipient: I have never gotten a truly weird, "what the heck is THIS" kind of gift. But, I would surely love to hear about other people's gift getting (and gift giving) experiences!

A Riddle! (I love riddles!)

Julian, a very clever and articulate chap from Malaysia, sent this charming card and a riddle in verse:

I have a thousand faces - maybe more.

I'd love to visit a thousand places - then some more.

Alas, my minder would've none of it

The choleric dude who wears his heart on his sleeve.

And I don my thoughts on my back. What am I?

The first post crossing card!

Check out Julian's blog: www.wickwax.blogspot.com

Problem is... I never LIKED pink

Astrid, on this delicious-looking card, explains that these confections, called "beschuit met muisjes" are traditionally made to celebrate the arrival of a baby.

Naturally, girls are celebrated with pink "muisjes" and boys with blue ones. Or is it "natural"?

Astrid's question is "Why is it pink for girls and blue for boys?"

I turned to the clarifier of all things obscure: Cecil Adams of the Straight Dope website. Here's the link:

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2831/was-pink-originally-the-color-for-boys-and-blue-for-girls

Dreaming of the miraculous

If a dream comes true, is that a miracle?

(That's my question...derived from these questions:

Do you believe that dreams come true?

If you could perform one miracle, what would it be?

My dream is PEACE (it always is) and that WOULD be a miracle.

Walking to the beat...

Warning: Objects in this window are larger than real life (at least I hope so!)

Groetje, from Germany, sent this lovely creature and asked:

What's the first thing you would do if you could suddenly walk on water?

Steven, from Connecticut in the US, has stranded me on the desert island again. (I think I've been there before.)

If you were stranded on a desert island, what three CDs would you bring with you?

I think I would employ my newly discovered ability to walk on water to get off the island, particularly if it's occupied by creatures like the ones on the German card!

When one question answers another...

Rebecca wants to know:

What's the biggest problem in the world today?

To which Joris replied by asking this question:

Why do people always vote for politicians who promise the most for the crowd and actually do the most for themselves?

I'm hardly even needed in this loop!

Visions...

Today's postcard trio is all about what you see...

Amanda: How would you feel if you only saw the world in black and white?

Chris: I lost a shoe in a dream. Will I ever find it?

Laurence: What is the vision of the inner eye?

I hope that the visions shown me by my inner eye are in color, and that one day I'll see all the things I've ever lost, most importantly people.

Heliotropic coffeespoons

I defy you to find a more inscrutable blog post heading than today's: Heliotropic coffeespoons.

A postcrosser from Japan, on a lovely sunflower-bearing card, wonders why the sunflower blooms in the direction of the sun. That's heliotropism in action. (Gosh, I love it when I get to use a swell word such as heliotropism!)

Another postcrosser, this time from Portugal, wants to know why the French move their coffeespoons to the left while the Portugese move them to the right. I figure it's because the French are following the sun, from east to west or from the right to the left.

See? It all comes together: heliotropic coffeespoons!

Where do we start, why are we here, and where are we going?

A "simple Ukrainian guy" (his words, not mine) wants to know:

If you could choose a country in which to be born, what would it be?

An 8-year-old from Australia wants to know:

Why are we made?

A couple from Russia want to know:

Where would you travel?

Right now, I'm happy to have been born here, to stay here, and to contemplate why I was made in the first place!

Grateful for the essentials

More related questions (at least in my mind)!

Two from the Netherlands: What is the one material thing you could not do without? And what is the one non-material thing?

One from Finland: What are you grateful for?

I've got terrible vision! If I had to spend a day trying to make sense of the world without wearing contact lenses or glasses, I'd be completely befuddled. So, my material items would be my glasses or contact lenses. Those contact lenses allow me to exploit the non-material "thing" that I would miss the most - and one of the things for which I am most grateful - my curiosity! I couldn't read or write or draw or paint or see anything around me at all! And THAT would make me NUTS.

An unseen eye in the sky?

I managed to confuse two recent questions ... one was about what I would do if I were invisible and the other was about where I'd go if I were able to fly...

What I answered the person asking about invisibility was that - because I could fly, I would never be late again.

I began to answer the person asking about flying, and I realized that I was confused. Clearly, just thinking about high altitudes deprives my brain of the oxygen it needs to think clearly.

Going to heck in a handcart?

I wonder if Katarina considered how well the illustration on the front of her card matched the question on the back of her card! It seems pretty clear to me. You see, she asked,

So.... what is life in America?

Sometimes I think life in America is a lot like the picture on the card. Some people are looking forward; some people are looking back; everyone is heading for an unknown destination with no real control of the course, speed, or journey!

English, anyone?

Lots of people, it seems! Tauty, from Belgium poses this question (on a card designed to help a person learn (and love) English):

Why has English become the language of Post Crossing?

According to listverse.com, English is NOT the language spoken by the most PEOPLE in the world. English is number 2 in that contest; Mandarin is number 1. However, English is spoken in the highest number of countries.

Three times the luck

I guess there's more bad luck out there than I would have believed. Way back in November 2010, and then again in February this year, people asked about bad luck along the lines of this question from Nancy in Canada:

Is it genetics or karma or what that makes a person have continual bad luck?

I'm not sure... are some people just born under a dark cloud?

Greetings, Spaceling!

Kate, from Russia, asks

What would you say the first time you meet an "alien"?

Well, first... did I go somewhere to encounter this person? If it was a long trip, I'd probably ask "where's the restroom?"

If the alien came to my neighborhood, I'm not sure WHAT I'd ask... Offer a brewski? I'll be thinking about this one all day!

Cellardoor?

Some famous author (can't remember who) reputedly thought that "cellardoor" was the most delightful sounding English word - disregarding for a moment that it's not one word...

Saskia from Belgium, asks:

What is the most beautiful word for you?

For what it means: peace
For what it sounds like: susurrus
For how it tickles my brain: omphaloskepsis

You mean other people can actually pick just one? Weird.

Can you hear me?

Aya, from Japan, asks this question:

What is the best way to understand people from different cultures?

I think the key to success here is to listen more than you speak. I've found astonishing things when I've just shut my piehole and listened to what other people have to say.

So: Be quiet!

Postcard from.... the laser lab!

Well, from a physicist, anyway!

Soren, from Germany, who is an actual physicist in an actual lab working with ultra cold atoms, lasers and "a lot of quantum mechanics" sent a mind-boggling question (as befitting a deep thinking scientist kinda guy):

Can the human mind understand itself, i.e. be completely aware of itself, understanding its own purpose, reactions, etc? Or will we build artificial minds/computers that are so complex that we cannot understand them anymore?

I believe that the divine in us resides in that corner of the mind that we can never really comprehend.

The Power of Three, plus a bonus

Three is something of a magical number, no? "Three wishes from the genie in the bottle" immediately leaps to mind.

From Indiana, this three-fer question:

If you could describe yourself in three words, what would they be?

From Victoria on a card showing the workings of a Welsh coal mining operation:

If you were far underground, what three things would you take down with you and what three things would you leave "upstairs"?

And the bonus question, on a card from Moldova:

Einstein said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge." Is it better to know the reality (real life) or to live in a fantasy, no matter how false it can be?

Break into small groups, discuss, prepare to report back to the group...