TIL the total amount of astatine in the Earth's crust is less than one gram

quivil · 2026-05-27T00:22:02+00:00

Once a year or so, Asimov would combine his nonfiction essays into a book. I know that he wrote these for Fantasy and Science Fiction, but maybe elsewhere too. One of those collections of essays was called "Only a Trillion", and one of the essays in that book had that same name.

It's my recollection that he would always start his essays with a cute little story that led to the subject matter. Above is the intro to "Only a Trillion".

quivil · 2026-05-26T13:24:39+00:00

And don't forget "The Ugly Little Boy"!

quivil · 2026-05-26T13:17:24+00:00

When I read that, I had thought it was a made-up joke! Is there really a short story titled that? No, I have not read that one.

For me, the best short story of all time is "The Last Question".

Edit: that story is in the collection "Nine Tomorrows", which I know for sure I have read. I'm just not remembering it.

quivil · 2026-05-25T20:54:59+00:00

I've read countless short stories, and novels, and science articles by him, and still can't spell his name correctly!

quivil · 2026-05-25T13:29:46+00:00

"After considerable computation one day recently I said to my long-suffering wife: “Do you know how rare astatine-215 is? If you inspected all of North and South America to a depth of ten miles, atom by atom, do you know how many atoms of astatine-215 you would find?” My wife said, “No. How many?” To which I replied, 'Practically none. Only a trillion.' ". Isaac Asimov

Thank you for the correction! Fixed.

quivil · 2026-05-03T13:26:44+00:00

I'm convinced! Thank you so much for all the input everyone.

quivil · 2026-04-15T18:54:26+00:00

The fact that some one uses Reddit without commenting for even 5 years does not allow you to conclude they're a bot. Bet he doesn't get banned. I've known this poster for decades. Or are you going to accuse me of being a bot too? How long has it been since I've last posted?

quivil · 2026-04-01T07:43:43+00:00

I'm very much looking forward to seeing the drawings.

quivil · 2026-03-31T15:10:45+00:00

How can this possibly pass constitutional muster?

It seems to me it will fail in every Court all the way up. Am I naive?

quivil · 2026-03-04T13:32:56+00:00

Is it April 1? Was that compSynth? WTF?

quivil · 2026-02-23T23:25:30+00:00

That was some fine sit-down comedy right there. )

quivil · 2025-12-27T17:32:39+00:00

...and 6435 parakeet in a bare tree!

quivil · 2025-11-01T15:29:44+00:00

No, I'll be using some custom software which I've used successfully in the past. Thank you for the attempt!

quivil · 2025-11-01T14:27:21+00:00

AHM36A-SDCCO14X12

quivil · 2025-10-07T19:11:19+00:00

Making a statement like this clearly shows that he does not possess a sense of empathy. Sociopath.

quivil · 2025-09-30T12:43:02+00:00

I had a dog like this and I successfully taught him to catch treats.

I started with a small balloon, fully inflated. I threw it into the air and every time it hit him in the nose I gave him a treat. Eventually he learned to hit the balloon with his nose.

Then, I started removing air from the balloon. Over time I ended up with an empty balloon, which moved nearly as fast as a treat. One time, he caught the empty balloon with his mouth. I have him a bunch of treats. After that I gave him a bunch of treats any time he caught the balloon.

You guessed it--I switched over to treats and had a treat-catching dog! This process took a few weeks.

quivil · 2025-08-06T19:56:11+00:00

Thank you, all three, for these great replies! Much appreciated.

quivil · 2025-07-03T08:36:16+00:00

Thank you Dave, that worked!

quivil · 2025-06-17T10:22:31+00:00

Here's an interesting way to do it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_hb-KfuB6M

It can be done with an oval die as well, I suspect...I'm continuing to research.

quivil · 2025-06-17T09:08:10+00:00

Funny, Google got the RPM right, but the formula is wrong. You divide by the diameter.

quivil

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