Robert Anson Heinlein (1907–1988) is considered to be among the “Big Three” of science fiction authors (Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke being the other two). He wrote StarShip Troopers and other great works of Speculative Fiction in the Sci-fi genre. He also had a remarkable life; you should definitely Google him and read up on his accomplishments. He also has been credited with the following quote:
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.-Robert A. Heinlein
Well here goes. A human being should be able to…
change a diaper: Like a boss.
plan an invasion: Does invading a sports bar and plopping down in the best seat in the house to watch football count?
butcher a hog: Surprisingly not many opportunities for this growing up in Humboldt Park.
conn a ship: That’s just telling people what to do while I beam down to the planet surface and bang green chicks, right? #startrek
design a building: Design sure. Afford, that’s another thing.
write a sonnet: a very bad one.
balance accounts: back in the days before online banking I could totally do this. My secret: when paying recurring bills like utilities, round up to the nearest dollar.
build a wall: a fence is essentially a wall.
set a bone: that is what my wife, the former er nurse, is for.
comfort the dying: more than anyone should.
take orders: yep though not always as well as I should.
give orders: I’m getting better at it.
cooperate: didn’t go to kindergarten but I’m learning.
act alone: like Lee Harvey Oswald.
solve equations: I took all sorts of calculus and differential equations course in college that I use every day. NOT.
analyze a new problem: and sometimes over analyze (see all my dating failures).
pitch manure: see my resume.
program a computer: also, see my resume (I work in IT).
cook a tasty meal: my Orange Shrimp Linguine is one of the reasons Nightingale married me.
fight efficiently: Getting beat up a lot in grade school made me a good runner.
die gallantly: when the time comes, I’ll do my best.
Specialization is for insects. So how did you do on these? Let us know in the comments.
Free Fun Friday is where I like to feature a video that has gone viral or is otherwise interesting. It started as a way to make a quick blog entry so that I wouldn’t go too long between post for my readers. Now it’s sort of evolved as a way to stretch my writing muscles and flex my creativity neural pathways.
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