# I introduce myself and ask a quick question **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 11, 2010, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-introduce-myself-and-ask-a-quick-question/528616 "2010-02-11T22:50:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Walmarticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Walmarticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walmarticus)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-introduce-myself-and-ask-a-quick-question/528616/1 "2010-02-11T22:50:51Z")
I want to say a couple things. Introduction first: I’m a _looooong_ time lurker. I know all about buckeyes, grapists and the like. So, you don’t need to talk down to me. I know at least a few big words as well. Interesting information: I often have dreams of watching planes crash. No clue why. I’m way too into science fiction. I’m a poli-sci major and a senior. We were having this discussion in class. Hypothetical situation: you go back in time where a little girl is giving Hitler a flower. You happen to have a grenade. Is it moral to frag them both, if it means stopping the genocide to come? I have no idea, but I did learn the correct answer doesn’t reference the space-time continuum. I write the above paragraph in the interest of fairness. I wouldn’t feel comfortable soliciting advice from strangers. I like to develop a report first. Having read the most intimate details of my life in the above paragraph, me and my fellow dopers are now like this **crosses fingers**. Anybody know any good books for a very basic introduction to the stock market? Like, Investing for Third Graders, by Monster, Cookie et al. I would eventually like to go into great depth, but just don’t know where to start. Advice for wannabe robber baron? ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-introduce-myself-and-ask-a-quick-question/528616/2 "2010-02-11T22:55:54Z")
My financial planner highly recommended [Simple Wealth, Inevitable Wealth](http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Wealth-Inevitable-Nick-Murray/dp/0966976347/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265928916&sr=1-1). I’m reading it now and have not finished it yet, but it explains things fairly engagingly and is targeted to people who are not at all familiar with how financial markets work. It’s been really helpful to me. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-introduce-myself-and-ask-a-quick-question/528616/3 "2010-02-11T23:03:30Z")
> [@Walmarticus](#): > > Interesting information: I often have dreams of watching planes crash. Me too - well, not exactly _often_, but I do have recurring one. Do yours follow a consistent pattern? Could you describe them? Mine consists of me watching a large plane (sometimes an abnormally large and odd-shaped one, like those gigantic cargo planes, and sometimes with disproportionately large engines) - the plane takes off and climbs steeply, then stalls and falls back to the ground, disappearing from my view behind buildings, then a huge fireball rises. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-introduce-myself-and-ask-a-quick-question/528616/4 "2010-02-11T23:11:18Z")
> [@Walmarticus](#): > > Hypothetical situation: you go back in time where a little girl is giving Hitler a flower. You happen to have a grenade. Is it moral to frag them both, if it means stopping the genocide to come? I have no idea, but I did learn the correct answer doesn’t reference the space-time continuum. What’s the correct answer you guys came up with? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-introduce-myself-and-ask-a-quick-question/528616/5 "2010-02-11T23:16:21Z")
> [@Walmarticus](#): > > Hypothetical situation: you go back in time where a little girl is giving Hitler a flower. You happen to have a grenade. Is it moral to frag them both, if it means stopping the genocide to come? [READ BULLETIN 1147, PEOPLE!](http://www.abyssandapex.com/200710-wikihistory.html) ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-introduce-myself-and-ask-a-quick-question/528616/6 "2010-02-11T23:27:55Z")
I have the “watching plane crash” dreams now and then, too. Mine are usually commercial airliners/cargo planes, and they also usually stall and augur in. Welcome aboard, **Walmarticus**! Sounds like you’re a bit off like the rest of us… 😃 Oh, and sitting in my comfy chair here, I’d frag the both of them; I’m not so sure what would happen if actually faced with that choice. I’d start thinking, maybe we _needed_ Hitler, or not have the nerve to kill the little girl (most likely). ---
**Author:** ![Stealth\_Potato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Stealth\_Potato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Potato)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2010, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-introduce-myself-and-ask-a-quick-question/528616/7 "2010-02-11T23:42:25Z")
Airplane crashes in dreams? Sure thing. I don’t know if I’ve ever had a dream with an airplane in it in which said airplane did not crash at some point. I am beginning to suspect that my subconscious has the mistaken impression that airplanes are just unusually complex apparatuses for producing fireballs and wreckage. ETA: And this applies to the time periods both before _and_ after an airplane crashed into my yard, narrowly missing me in the process, so I doubt that had anything to do with it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![cuberdon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/45deac/32.png) [@cuberdon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuberdon)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-introduce-myself-and-ask-a-quick-question/528616/8 "2010-02-12T00:29:33Z")
> [@Stealth\_Potato](#): > > an airplane crashed into my yard, narrowly missing me in the process You say this like it’s an every day occurrence. The soup is hot, the soup is cold. A plane crashed in my backyard and almost into me. ---
**Author:** ![kapri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kapri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kapri)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-introduce-myself-and-ask-a-quick-question/528616/9 "2010-02-12T00:57:04Z")
I used to have dreams about planes crashing all the time. In the dream I’d be outside doing something and look up and see a plane, usually in flames, that would fall to the earth. And then I’d wake up or the dream would end. When I was a kid, about 11 I guess, we lived under a flight path to the Philadelphia Airport. One day a friend and I were out riding our bikes when she told me too look up. Above us was a jet with flames shooting out of one of its engines. We rode fast to the home of a friend’s grandmother, because she had a police radio, and we listened and listened and then watched the news that night but there was nothing on about it at all. I always figured the real incident and the dreams are connected, but since lots of other people apparently have similar dreams . . . maybe not. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-introduce-myself-and-ask-a-quick-question/528616/10 "2010-02-12T01:12:32Z")
A good place for beginning investors is [www.motleyfool.com](http://www.motleyfool.com) (or, at least it was last time I went there about a hundred years ago). ---
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-introduce-myself-and-ask-a-quick-question/528616/11 "2010-02-12T03:52:11Z")
My top recurring nightmares: 1. Planes crashing. 2. Going back to college and living in my dorm. 3. Can’t find the class I need to go to, plus I didn’t study for the test or write the papers so I’m going to flunk. 4. Going back to the house I lived in as a kid. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-introduce-myself-and-ask-a-quick-question/528616/12 "2010-02-12T04:13:19Z")
Welcome, **walmarticus**! Since you’ve been lurking so long, I’m guessing you’re already prepared for the goat, squid and lime Jell-O. FWIW, I’ve never had a nightmare of a plane-crash (just _watch_ what happens in my brain tonight. . .) Almost 21 years ago, my mother died; she was. . .moody. Never diagnosed, but I’d bet a _lot_ of money she was bipolar, and possibly Borderline Personality. For about a year and a half after she died, I would have nightmares about her. Then I found out about ‘directed dreaming’, where you can be _aware_ you’re dreaming (you all know about that, right? Where somewhere in your brain you go ‘this is so bizarre I _must_ be dreaming’), and learned that I could _tell_ her to go away. So the next time she showed up in my dreams, criticizing the hell out of me and nit-picking at the way I chose to live, I said to her (in my dream) “Mom, you’re dead, and we both know it, so you need to go away now”, and she did. My only other recurring bad dream has to be with my husband acting like a _major_ douchebag. He’s not that at _all_ in real life (at least not to me; some of the people he oversees at work may disagree). Hmmmm. Never thought before about applying ‘directed dreaming’ to my hubby’s dream-time douchiness. Maybe next time it happens, I’ll just say to him, “Look, you’re not really an asshole, and we both know it, so just knock it off!” ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-introduce-myself-and-ask-a-quick-question/528616/13 "2010-02-12T04:18:49Z")
Wow… I never had any idea how common the plane crash dream is (and it is interesting that this is where the thread seems to be going). I also have frequently dreamed that I look up and see a plane and somehow watch as it slowly comes crashing to the ground usually fairly close to where I am. I’ve even sometimes been involved in the rescue efforts afterward. It doesn’t seem like the typical anxiety dream of “oh crap… I’ve never been to this class and now I have a final.” But more like a “oh crap… this is something that doesn’t normally happen.” Anyone with a serious analysis of this dream (although I’m sure this group could come up with some fun not serious analysis as well). ---
**Author:** ![Iridescent\_Orb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@Iridescent\_Orb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iridescent_Orb)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-introduce-myself-and-ask-a-quick-question/528616/14 "2010-02-12T05:35:24Z")
Investing for Dummies is a surprisingly good beginning book. Amazon has the first chapter online, so you can check it out and see if it is to your liking. Happy investing! ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-introduce-myself-and-ask-a-quick-question/528616/15 "2010-02-12T05:55:06Z")
Welcome, and I believe the word you were looking for was “rapport”, not report. What? Someone has to initiate the newby! ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-introduce-myself-and-ask-a-quick-question/528616/16 "2010-02-12T06:15:55Z")
> [@Walmarticus](#): > > I want to say a couple things. Introduction first: I’m a _looooong_ time lurker. I know all about buckeyes, grapists and the like. So, you don’t need to talk down to me. Well, your username kinda lends itself, ya know. And no, I’m not going to [show you](http://consumerist.com/2010/02/receipt-checker-avoidance-tactic-confuse-them-with-extreme-politeness.html) [my](http://consumerist.com/2010/02/how-i-maneuvered-through-the-walmart-receipt-check-gauntlet.html) [receipt](http://consumerist.com/2010/01/walmart-manager-takes-customers-dvd-away-because-he-wont-show-receipt.html), [thankyouverymuch](http://consumerist.com/2010/01/walmart-holds-another-customer-hostage.html). ---
**Author:** ![Nancarrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-introduce-myself-and-ask-a-quick-question/528616/17 "2010-02-12T10:26:45Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > [READ BULLETIN 1147, PEOPLE!](http://www.abyssandapex.com/200710-wikihistory.html) Hey, I really liked that, even if no-one else did! Only thing, it was a bit short, I wanted more time-traveller-n00b-goodness. ---
**Author:** ![shantih](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shantih](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shantih)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-introduce-myself-and-ask-a-quick-question/528616/18 "2010-02-12T11:38:32Z")
> [@kittenblue](#): > > Welcome, and I believe the word you were looking for was “rapport”, not report. > > What? Someone has to initiate the newby! Crap! I wanted to post that very thing! Only I was going to make a witty post about not usually correcting people’s posts, given my healthy respect for **Gaudere** , but I would do it in this case, given the closeness I now feel with **Walmarticus** due to our bonding over the whole little-girl-with-a-flower/Hitler dilemma thing, and now it’s gone all kerblooie! _sulks_ Fine, then I will settle for informing _you_ that the usual spelling is ‘newbie,’ so there. _walks away grumbling_ ---
**Author:** ![Walmarticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Walmarticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walmarticus)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-introduce-myself-and-ask-a-quick-question/528616/19 "2010-02-12T14:44:03Z")
Thanks for the book and website recommends. I’m an econ minor who doesn’t know the first thing about investing. Demand functions, I’m all over. Equilibrium prices? I gotcha covered. > [@YogSosoth](#): > > What’s the correct answer you guys came up with? The consensus was to frag away (we were studying Machiavelli at the time). Not quite sure how they could do it, since killing Hitler would erase the purpose for why they went back in time in the first place. > [@Mangetout](#): > > Do yours follow a consistent pattern? Could you describe them? They happen weekly, with no pattern at all. I’ll be watching some passenger airliner and just know _oh snap, it’s going to crash_ and sure enough. One time I was standing on the beach and it was like a meteor shower of crashing planes. Another time I was at the park and saw a helicopter crash. I looked in the cockpit and saw Stephen King was the pilot. I don’t even know what he looks like. > [@kittenblue](#): > > Welcome, and I believe the word you were looking for was “rapport”, not report. > > What? Someone has to initiate the newby! Drats! Foiled again by the spellchecker.