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Today, for almost certainly the last time, I am the square of a prime.
Hey, you might make it to 121. In the absence of national health care, at least you'll be free of unnecessary medications.
Happy BD, oh esteemed host!
Hey, it is after midnight. Happy birthday.
He's being all mournful about getting old. I think it's because he just found out that Tobias Buckell was born on his 20th birthday, back in 1979.
I remember my 20th birthday. So does Teresa. The idea that hot new writer Toby Buckell was writhing into existence on that same day is simply too weird to contemplate.
Excuse me, I'll be out in the garden leaning on my Zimmer frame.
Happy birthday!
Remember: getting older is better than the alternative.
Be careful. It's dark out there.
Alles Gute zum Geburtstag!
Happy Birthday! Wow, I didn't realize that you were younger than me... [1]
[1] This is because Hugo-winning editors are supposed to be older than me!
The obvious solution is to redefine squares and/or prime numbers.
I wouldn't call you square, Patrick, and you're still in your prime. So enjoy your birthday!
Or you could always fall back on the old consolation prize: "When Mozart was my age . . . he'd been dead fifteen years!"
Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday! Yes, I just found out that Catherynne Valente is about six. Proposed new drinking game: one shot for every year younger and prettier they are.
Happy Birthday. At least there's some good news after UH's demolition in the Sugar Bowl.
happy birthday, pnh! may your day be full of fun & jocularity.
Congratulations on another circuit around the sun, and may there be many more to come!
PNH, you're in your prime, and you're certainly not a square.
Happy birthday, Patrick!
Your comment proves your mettle: even noticing issues such as primes and squares indicates a great integrity and a salutary shunning of the decadently indecent irrational.
Many happy returns.
Happy birthday!!!
(I suppose reading "Imitations of Immorality" for the title of this thread suggests a need for sleep, more than anything else... )
Patrick, so far as I know, getting older beats the alternative. Even if it doesn't, I am in no mood to rush finding out.
Many happy returns.
It looks like you're turning 49 -- I assumed at first that whoever was posting must be turning 81!
So here's hoping that this is the *next* to last prime^2 birthday, or possibly (as said above) even the third-to-last.
And, of course, here's also wishing you a wonderful year! As my dad said, if you can get to 50 without growing up, *you don't have to!* :)
Happy Birthday, Patrick!*
You still have a whole lot of prime birthdays left; who cares if they're square?
* The exclamation mark thanks for you being an excuse to use it.
Happy birthday!
On mathematics and growing older ... I've always found the argument in Robert Charles Wilson's 'Divided by Infinity' a great comfort, myself.
Patrick: Happy birthday!
Next year you'll be able to write your age in Roman numerals with just one letter. The one that looks like a carpenter's square, while "square" is being discussed.* Of course, that may or may not happen to you again, either.
*Not that you are at all square. And we hope you are (a)round a long time!
Lois, whose current age is on every Heinz Ketchup bottle.
Happy Birthday, Patrick! I'm older than you are! :P
Happy Birthday!
#12 The obvious solution is to redefine squares and/or prime numbers.
Or you could choose a reference planet with a longer year.
The good news is that our host's age in days will next be the square of a prime on Pentecost 2010.
Here's to our host whose
age has squared a prime,
for what he says may
well be his last time
Now twice prime cubed he'll
be just five years on,
then prime squared cubed once
ten years more have gone
Math'matic rhyme,
while not sublime,
bears best wishes anon.
Happy Birthday Patrick
(Remember, in hex you're only 31)
gramina@24: I fear you need to double-check your mathematics.
Patrick: Happy birthday!
Happy birthday, Patrick!
Sadly after 3 years old there are no worthwhile birthdays anymore. It's the last age when you get pi.
(I will now go quietly burn in math pun hell)
Happy Birthday!
I can't, however, bring myself to agree that being 49 means you're old. Or even older. The most I'm willing to concede, from the great height of 50, is that we're not annoying, argumentative kids anymore.
We're annoying, argumentative adults.
Happy birthday, Sharky. And thanks for letting us play in your sandbox.
Patrick, otanjoubi omedetou gozaimasu!
Happy Birthday!
I am 1/3 of the way through my 49th year, and finding that it is producing a lot of good reflection and positive change. May it be the same for you!
A few weeks back in the Pope Rat, Professor X, red-state politician sex thread, which naturally veered towards 'Oh, that makes me feel so old', there were all these comments saying 'the Berlin Wall' was their first datable memory of the outside world. They meant its fall, where mine was its construction.
I mentioned there that finding out that both expected future PMs in our recent election were younger than me was rather confronting (both turned 50 in 2007). Definitely worse than seeing young policemen.
Now I find the respected & experienced PNH is even younger still! Enjoy it Patrick, you never know how many more you'll get. (Go & blow out a candle on that Hugo.) Congratulations & Hoppy Birdies.
Happy birthday, sir!
(I've always found hexadecimal a friendlier base for birthdays - 49 is only 31!)
Happy birthday! Family rule is: five days of celebration minimum for ordinary birthdays, ten for big birthdays. "Last likely square of a prime" sounds like an excuse for the extra five to me.
Joyeux Anniversaire, Patrick!
(Cue in the theme music from Hawaii 5-0.)
Happy Birthday! May you have many, many more.
Happy Birthday, Patrick!
May we all live to see you happy and healthy on your 121st birthday.
Damn fencepost errors ...
(Need more coffee ...)
Happy Birthday!
(And damn you, Serge (#47) for earworming me!)
Congratulations on still having birthdays, and sincere envy on noticing the specialness of the number. The last time I had a good numeric insight was when I realized that I could remember which license number was mine and which was Cathy's, because the first two digits of each were 1/3 of our respective age when we got the plates. That's not true any more, of course, but I found an easier way to remember anyway.
But good going on the birthday thing. Keep having them.
John Chu wins something, I think, but I'm not sure what.
Sasha was marvelling that people born in 2000 could be eight already. He remembers 2000.
My Aunt Jane, whose eighty-fifth birthday it is today, picked up The King's Peace once in AM's house. She read the first sentence aloud. "What it means to be old is to remember things that nobody else alive can remember." She looked up. Well, that's true!" she said, and put the book down decisively. So she never got to the line in the last chapter of The King's Name "What it means to be young is to wake up in the morning with the belief that today might be better than yesterday."
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!
Old? Ha! I have books, sir, that are three times your age.
¡feliz cumpleaños, Patrick!
And forty-nine is not old. Good heavens.
Adam Lipkin @ 52... Bwahahahah!!!
You know, Patrick doesn't look that old. Do you think he might really be a Questor?
Today I passed my prime, well temporarily at least. Happy birthday, birthday sharer. :-)
Happy birthday, from someone who is also the square of a prime (the previous prime)!
Happy birthday, Patrick!
At least (unless you haven't been mentioning it) you haven't been receiving solicits from the AARP to join. I have, at one year younger than you, which is odd. They're usually far more accurate than that.
1. Happy birthday, Tobias Buckell!
2. Happy first-birthday-with-a-Hugo to PNH!
3. You waited till exactly midnight to post this? Obsessive much?
Happy birthday, whippersnapper! (I'm sure a lot of us here could say, "If you think that's old ...")
I hope the twelve months leading to the age of L are all good ones.
Happy Birthday, Patrick! May you enjoy the world for many years to come.
What's the matter with kids these days? They have a birthday and think they're old?
Happy Birthday!
Look at it this way, you still get to look forward to being the 6th power of a prime, as well as the 4th power of a prime later.
In other news: Teresa, have you heard about this narcolepsy-related news? I don't know when and if they plan on moving to human trials, though.
Yeah, quit your bragging, you insolent pup.
In March I'll be a prime cubed. Look at all you have to look forward to!
Happy Birthday! (I'm slightly younger than you, but have reached the age when I've almost stopped being freaked out by doctors being much younger than I am.)
Happy Birthday from one zimmer framer to another. Long may you wave (r?)
Much love, as always
Happy birthday, youngster.
And don't pay attention to anybody who insists you're an adult.
Felicitous natal anniversary to you,
Felicitous natal anniversary to you,
Felicitious natal anniversary, dear Patrick,
Felicitous natal anniversary to you!
I, like LMB and John, also look forward to celebrating your 121st. Live long and prosper, yo.
Happy birthday! Are there any 49-year-old single malts?
Your current ages lies between two primes, the larger of which is my current age. So, Happy Birthday, youngster.
A very Happy Birthday, PNH! We're lucky to have you here in the world. Here's hoping the next year brings you lots of things that make you happy.
On this day: On 2 January 1959, after reaching escape velocity, Luna 1 separated from its 1472 kg third stage.
Happy Birthday! Do something amusing.
Happy Birthday. And I hope you're wrong about it being the last time for that mathematical formula.
You have the same birthday as Isaac Asimov.
Hey, you're still younger than I am.
Happy birthday!
Oh yeah, BTW.
Intimations of mortality--one of my colleagues at work was born the year I graduated from high school.
Sigh.
Congratulations!
If you were Jack Benny, you could just keep repeating this birthday for the rest of your life.
Joyce #90:
Yeah, I had an experience like this a while back. I went to my doctor's office, and saw a very earnest very young doctor who looked like she had graduated (from high school) about an hour before. It was just sort of jarring....
My youngest coworkers were probably born around the time I graduated high school, too.
So young, so young, And a whole New Year to blow it on. Enjoy!
Happy birthday, Patrick, you whippersnapper (you were born the year I started first grade, after all).
Happy Birthday, Patrick!
I could note that you still get to be the fifth power of a prime and the fourth power of a prime before you get to be a prime squared again, but that's too geeky, so I won't.
On my next birthday, in a few short weeks, I become The Answer. Whoopee.
Happy Birthday, Patrick. Hope you celebrate your square-primedness suitably (and that there's something good to drink--which I suspect there will be).
Wait...would that be prime-squaredness?
Velma @ 80
(After a quick Google by this lover of single malts). Yes, but they're rather expensive...
I was a bit punchy from a cold when I read the headline last night. It hit my brain as "Imitations of mortality." As in pretending to get old and die, maybe to fool your neighbors so they don't know you have a stash of Boosterspice.
Happy birthday!
Madeleine 98: I believe that's a better construction. 'Square' is a verb; 'prime' is not (in a mathematical context). So putting a verbal ending on 'square' is better form.
Now someone will tell me that 'prime' IS a verb in mathematics and explain what it means. That's fine. Just don't tell me that squares ARE primes (because after all they're derived from them)! :-)
You're older than you've ever been.
And now you're even older.
And now you're even older.
And now you're even older.
You're older than you've ever been.
And now you're even older.
And now you're older still.
Xopher @101:
Prime may not be a verb in mathematics, but it is a form of dinosaur.
*runs very quickly away*
*sets phaser on "hurt a lot"*
*blasts abi as she flees*
Sorry, folks, but it had to be done.
Xopher @106:
Sorry, folks, but it had to be done.
You're going to be even more sorry when I send Prime the Very Mean And Slightly Unusual Dinosaur after you.
abi 107: I'll pull his feathers out!
I'm waiting for Optimus Prime to stomp in.
Xopher @108:
I'll pull his feathers out!
You think that'll quill him?
(Making Light: the only place where anyone ever brings a dinosaur to a gunfight.)
I suddenly recall that my classmate redubbed this ode "Imitations of Immorality."
Happy Birthday.
So next year you'll be the number of states in the Union! Something to look forward to, at least.
You know the proof for there being no largest interesting number, don't you? I think I read it here.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU SAH!!!
Abi @ 110... You think that'll quill him?
Youth'ink?
A Primeasaurus would certainly be odd, except for the first one, which would be even.
abi: I don't think plucking him will get him down.
abi 110: Then I'll throw a stick and yell "Fletch!" I'm not going to let him shaft me. I'll call my friend Calvin, and say "Calumus help me get rid of this vane dinosaur. My friend Barb will help too. I'll tell her "Barbule help, won't you?" But in secret, so she won't get locked up in a barbicel.
Happy Birthday to all my fellow Capricorns out there, and especially to PNH!
Harriet
who will be one year short of the Heinz label day after tomorrow
-- perhaps I should act now to reserve Whisperado to play for my next big one, my LXth, in 2012? :-)
Happy Birthday!
FWIW, I read the title as "Imitations of Morality" as well. Which would probably be post with a lot of supporting material readily available.
Xopher @117:
Prime doesn't wait for puns; he goes straight for the kill. Or, to put it a little differently,
Because I could not stop for Puns,
They kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but Xopher's wit
And verbal levity.*
-----
* For the record, this is doggerel. Or, perhaps, dinorel.
Xopher @ 117... I'll call my friend Calvin, and say "Calumus help me get rid of this vane dinosaur. My friend Barb will help too. I'll tell her "Barbule help, won't you?" But in secret, so she won't get locked up in a barbicel.
When it comes down to it, their pinions matter a lot to you.
I wonder feather or not these fledgling puns will survive...
Wow! Congrats! Here's hoping that the medical science in sci-fi books will come to pass and that you're completely wrong! . . . Er, it does sound a little odd to hope that the birthday boy is wrong, but I'm sure we'll get over it.
I'd post a version of the sad happy birthday song, but I can't even get the VPXI videos online, so I'm going to have to put that off for another birthday.
Storm the castle, burn the keep
Kill the trolls but save the sheep!
On your birthday
Happy birthday
Hangovers are what's so sad
'Bout the whiskey that you've had
On your birthday
Happy birthday
May your deeds with pen and axe
Outshine those with 'saurs and yaks
On your birthday
Happy birthday
It's a leap year. I certainly hope you have another 365 days of being a squared prime immediately ahead of you.
And I wish you joy in each and every one of those days, as well as in the years and decades to follow.
Geri.. Actually, Patrick will be a 49er for 366 days, not 365.
Serge, that's why she said *another* 365 days. After today.
49? Did you cry a lot?
Happy B'day, and thanks for co-hosting our favorite online reading.
-Josh and Ann
Minden jó a születésnapodra!
Happy Birthday Patrick and Hau'oli Makahiki Hou to the both of you.
Wishing you a Fiendishly Happy Birthday, sir!
Mary Aileen @ 132... I stand corrected.
Happy Birthday, Patrick. Hope today was special and the rest of the year even more so.
Happy birthday, sir. You and your co-hosts are a delight to read. Thank you all.
Happy Birthday to you, Merry Birthday to you!
May all your good dreams and fine wishes come true!
May every day bring you its own special cheer,
The gift of our friendship, and fortune this year..!
Many happy returns to an esteemed senior, and may you live to be wrong about the last-squared-prime bit. (121 has yet to be ruled out.)
- CJH
(celebrated 40th on last ISO8660 date with all-odd digits for the next millenium or so...)
Happy Birthday. You make people not much younger, like me, feel there's hope for us yet.
Happy Birthday, Patrick!
Happy birthday ... but remember, "with proper assistance, you could have left off at seven".
--Dave
Happy belated birthday!
Patrick #6: I remember my 20th birthday. So does Teresa. The idea that hot new writer Toby Buckell was writhing into existence on that same day is simply too weird to contemplate.
Well... you could look at Toby and his subsequent writing as a great birthday present that just took a really long while to get to you (-:
-Suzanne
Belated congrats and happy birthday!
Happy belated birthday - hope it was full of joy. Here's to many wonderful things happening during this revolution around the sun!
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