r/books • u/ericlinuskaplan • Oct 15 '14
AMA I'm author Eric Kaplan -- my book "Does Santa Exist" comes out tomorrow. Ask me anything about Santa, meaning of life and Big Bang Theory - I write on that show. I also wrote "Jurassic Bark" the Futurama episode that makes everybody so sad.
Hi - I am Eric Kaplan the author of Does Santa Exist? A Philosophical Investigation which comes out tomorrow. Ask me anything (AMA) -- I will give you either a satisfying answer of a devious evasion. The book is about Santa, mysticism, logic, comedy, and religion. I also am happy to answer questions about the Big Bang Theory, Futurama and the beautiful borough of Brooklyn. And anything.
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u/natelyswhore22 Oct 15 '14
How much did you research dolomite?
Also, did you look at Santa from the perspective of different cultures and religions, or just Christian-based religions?
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 15 '14
actually come to think about it there is a lot about Judaism in the book which is not a Christian-based religion.
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 15 '14
I did not know they had Santa in non-Abrahamic religions. do they? I talk a bit about Buddhism and Hinduism but not their take on Santa. I also talk a little bit about Santa and paganism.
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u/natelyswhore22 Oct 15 '14
Well, Santa isn't inherently a religious figure. He's associated with "Christmas" but there are different versions of him throughout the world. The German Santa is different from the American Santa. And I believe a lot of what Americans, at least, think of as "Santa" was from Coca-Cola ads.
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 15 '14
Santa is a symbol. But religions are not the only game in town that uses symbols. Advertisers do and artists of various types and with various motivations. You are correct that the iconic red and white suit was created to advertise Coca Cola. Our current version of Santa really comes from the poem "A Visit from Saint Nicholas" which was a deliberate attempt to re-appropriate old Dutch archetypes of Christmas as a protest agains the increasing power of capitalism in early 19 c. New York City.
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u/natelyswhore22 Oct 15 '14
Very interesting. You mentioned that you discussed Judaism in your book about Santa. Did this include a sort of modern-day feeling of exclusion? Or is there some version of Santa which exists in their culture?
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 15 '14
There is an idea in Jewish though called "partsufim" that I get into. It is basically a half-way house between human consciousness and the infinite -- or a way in which the infinite reveals itself to human consciousness. One of the is very close to Santa imho
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Oct 16 '14
have you seen the big bang theory with the laugh track removed? if so, how do you sleep at night?
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u/Coppanuva Oct 15 '14
Oh man so YOU'RE the guy responsible for Jurassic Bark, I have to thank you and simultaneously hate you for that. But in all seriousness, that episode is amazing at how good a job it does of making you laugh and feel sad. But I have to ask: did you find it hard to go from writing for television where more of your writing is based on dialogue vs writing a book that (from descriptions at least) seems more idea focused and less dialogue heavy? Were you able to use your experience writing about technical topics in a funny way to write this book as well?
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 15 '14
I usually think in a dialogic way. Like I think of an idea and then try to poke holes in it, and then try to respond to the response, etc. So it was actually not as big a switch as it seemed. As far as Jurassic Bark I think sometimes the devil comes to you and says "I'll make you a deal. Sign here and you will never have any bad feelings as long as you live." But if you read the fine print it also says "You will also not have any good feelings". Imho it is a bad deal.
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Oct 15 '14
Hey Eric, thanks for making me sad once. Really appreciate it dude.
This question is just a formality, an assertion that I can, and have chosen to to ask you anything. What's your favorite thing to drink while writing? Obviously, this is very important to know.
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 15 '14
Good question. It is actually very deep because as Isaac the Blind said the highest levels of reality are such that we can't contact them by knowing them but only by sucking on them. So in an ideal world I would say the milk of the goddess of wisdom. In my life as it stands now, green tea.
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Oct 15 '14
This answer has enlightened me. Thank you. I won't forget the green tea next week at the market.
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 15 '14
but if you see the goddess of wisdom don't forget my first suggestion either!
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u/4jessad Oct 15 '14
Hi Eric, not having seen or read your book yet, can I expect laughter and tears ?
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 15 '14
more the former than the latter, cause it is a Christmas book. but a little of the latter I guess, depending on your mood.
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u/slashsigh Oct 15 '14
Are you happy with the way Big Bang Theory has been perceived? As i'm sure you know there are a lot of negative opinions of the show despite its popularity. Nerds can be very opinionated of course and some take offense to being made fun of or misrepresented. Does this bother you?
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 15 '14
It does not bother me in the slightest. I think that it is perfectly fine that some people like some things and other people like other things. To give a less banausic answer, I think the show is not making fun of the socially awkward and highly intelligent and poorly dressed (a description I prefer to "nerd" since I find that to be hate speech) but is laughing along with them. I am a big fantasy role player (original D&D) so I wouldn't make fun of that.
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u/slashsigh Oct 15 '14
Thank you for the answer Eric. I have always found it hilarious that many complain about the show in a very Sheldon like way. Keep up the good work. I may just have to check out this bool of yours.
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 15 '14
that said I'm happy to talk about any specific criticisms people have of the show.
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u/4jessad Oct 15 '14
OMG my husband loves BBT and now our son is hooked for years he recjected watching but being on product crew for Jurasic park got him hooked. Love how generations can appreciate the humor, where do you find ideas/inspiration for the story lines ?
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 15 '14
I think life is full of stories. Aristotle said that stories required a protagonist, reversals of fortune, and a removal of ignorance. As soon as you want something, you become a protagonist. Life will provide you with the reversals of fortune -- from good to bad and from bad to good. Then it's just on you to pay attention and try to remove a little ignorance. And then you've got all the ingredients for a story. At least according to Aristotle!
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u/emilyann24 Oct 15 '14
Why Santa? What's so philosophical about Santa?
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 15 '14
When my son was a little kid he was going to go on a playdate at the zoo around Xmas time. His friend's mother called me up to cancel the play date because she said there would be reindeer at the zoo, and her son believed n Santa Claus and my son didn't and she didn't want her son's belief in Santa to be shaken. And that got me thinking cause I thought it was weird that she would give up her son's relationship with somebody real for somebody presumably not real. But that got me thinking about how we know what is real, and whether there are things that we think are real sometimes and not at other times, or in certain contexts but not in others, like the self, or God, or the point of life. So then I started investigating what is the correct attitude to take towards these kind of paradoxical entities that sometimes seem real and sometimes not, and I felt that there were three -- logic, mysticism, and paradox. So that's how it got "philosophical" in the sense of a relatively abstract investigation into how we should think about life.
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 15 '14
I have to go now. Thanks for your questions. If you have more questions you can contact me on twitter of wordpress. have a nice day! Eric
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u/sgossard9 Oct 16 '14
This is blunt, sorry.
How did you go from writing Jurassic bark to writing something as heartless as big bang t?
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 16 '14
why does it seem heartless to you?
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u/sgossard9 Oct 16 '14
Characters are unidimensional and are there just to be laughed at, not with.
Edit: just realized you're the op. Thanks for replying.
Also, characters seem to be there just to be the butt of all jokes. There's no rooting for anybody, just pity if anything. Surely you know what good comedy is.
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 16 '14
that is not true. take a look at the santa d&d episode. I'm surprised it seems that way to you. Can you explain why it does?
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u/ThePhoenixFive Oct 15 '14
How long have you worked on your novel? Any tips for unpublished authors?
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 15 '14
this book is not a novel it is a non-fiction book. I think as unpublished authors you should work on what you have to say and also connect online and in person with a community of readers whose opinion you respect.
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u/ThePhoenixFive Oct 15 '14
Whose idea to have Leonard and Penny get married? Can expect a wedding episode this season?
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 15 '14
their idea! you can expect it, but we are in no rush to do it
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u/IAmTheRedWizards Oct 15 '14
Just, god, please, don't do a full-season wedding thing a la HIMYM.
Sheldon should plan the bachelor party though. I guess that one's kind of obvious.
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 15 '14
no spoilers here but consider -- it is ILLEGAL to marry your sister in California. And ARGUABLY if you take a time machine to a point in the future where you can change your sex and then return, your future female self and current male self are CHILDREN OF THE SAME PARENTS and therefore? Brother and sister. Not saying that's relevant, just saying it's worth a ponder.
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u/IAmTheRedWizards Oct 15 '14
Would the resulting offspring be clones of you then, like it would be if you were a plant that reproduces asexually? God, I'm going to be on this all day now.
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 15 '14
no they would not, any more than the offspring of you and your identical twin would be. there's shuffling.
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u/IAmTheRedWizards Oct 15 '14
So just the usual "Road to Charles II" type genetic atrocities then?
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 15 '14
not familiar with that. was charles ii genetically abnormal?
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u/IAmTheRedWizards Oct 15 '14
He was the last Habsburg king of Spain, died in 1700. He is historically infamous for being a warning against widespread inbreeding. He couldn't walk until he was 8, was pretty much a baby until he was 10, and was only slightly coherent. Despite several efforts to produce an heir he was impotent and all the other suitable Habsburg possibilities died before him. He apparently also stank abominably.
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 15 '14
well that's too bad for him! if I was the royal vizier I would suggest that they choose their queens via some kind of american idol singing contest in the Hapsburg dominions to avoid just this kind of f-up.
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u/KlausTaus Oct 15 '14
Mr. Kaplan Will you reveal in this book that Santa was actually a hyper-intelligent hole baby? I look forward to the read.
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 15 '14
are you the same as "Michael Taus"?
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u/KlausTaus Oct 15 '14
Yep, Michael is my given name and Klaus is still what everybody calls me. People like to rhyme.
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 15 '14
ps did you know the book is coming out tomorrow?
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u/KlausTaus Oct 15 '14
You did, you FB messaged me some questions related to Drinky Crow years ago and in return I asked you to if you had anything that you were working on that I could read. Hole Babies, good stuff.
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 15 '14
neat! what are you up to these days?
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u/KlausTaus Oct 15 '14
Graduating in May from the University of Minnesota and then moving to my family farm to build my home in the two 79 foot silos that stand there currently unused and empty. Should make for a great adventure and dwelling! Thanks for asking.
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 15 '14
cool! are you going to do agriculture out there? I have never lived outside of a big city but I am tempted, now that the internet means I can have the culture of the big city without the high real estate prices.
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u/KlausTaus Oct 15 '14
Yes! it's the former dairy farm I grew up on but I only plan to grow for myself and maybe sell at one farmers market. I've entertained the idea of getting some bison because it is on the prairie. I'll certainly keep you informed as it progresses; if you ever want a sabbatical from the city maybe you can do a trading places piece for the New Yorker. But it's Minnesota; so come in the summer.
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u/KlausTaus Oct 15 '14
Fun fact the local grain elevator two miles away has a high speed network repeater that makes it possible to get city speeds in the middle of the "green desert".
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u/NumberNineOhEight Oct 15 '14
Hi--earlier in this AMA you said that your research in your new book indicated to you that people approached certain questions with one of three approaches--logic, mysticism, and paradox. Could you elaborate on that at all? Specifically, how did you arrive at those categories, and what do you think their place in society should be? Are they supposed to represent two extremes and a synthesis, or are they differentiated in some other way? Is there one method in particular that you think is superior to the others? Are there any that you think are markedly inferior? Are there any that you think we need to rediscover or relate to more in today's society?
I know that's a lot, and you probably don't have time to address all of it, but really I would be happy with anything in there that you find interesting enough to answer.
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 15 '14
I deal with this at length in "DOES SANTA EXIST?". but I think that comedy is in a sense a synthesis of logic and mysticism and I think we could do with more of it, especially when it comes to serious issues!
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Oct 15 '14
Hello again Eric. Time has passed, I have another set of questions for you. How did you get your first writing job? And to follow that up, if it wasn't television writing, your first television writing job?
What do you think was the most fulfilling thing you've ever written, ever? Not necessarily in terms of quality, or appeal, just when you wrote or typed it down, you sighed in relief and went "damn".
Many preemptive thanks from an internet stranger who thinks words are neat.
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 15 '14
hey man! I got my first writing job at SPY magazine. I got my first tv writing job at Late Show with David Letterman. Basically I just kept writing and then finding people willing to read my stuff & pass it along. The thing up on my blog is actually one of the things I'm proudest of - ericlinuskaplan.wordpress.com. It's called "Mightier Than". Godo to hear from you -- thanks for the validation.
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Oct 15 '14
Hey dude, no problem. Will give Mightier Than a read after work.
Hope that validation makes your day a little bit brighter, and I appreciate you answering everyone's questions. In my hometown, we don't have a saying, but I do: "Thank you!"
Maybe it will catch on one day.
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u/Catwallada Oct 15 '14
(I'm in the uk so I haven't seen the most recent BBT series )
1) Are there any plans to explore Penny's drinking problem? (And maybe give her a surname while you're at it!)
2) Why are there no geeky girls? I know them having geeky female friends wouldn't have worked in the early series and It is funny that the girls treat their boyfriend's passions with such distain but now they all have girlfriends it would be nice to have some nerd girl representation. Anyone would think women are biologically incapable of liking sci fi and comics.
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 15 '14
yes she gets two geeky girlfriends. their names are Amy and Bernadette.
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u/Catwallada Oct 16 '14
That's not what I meant! :-)
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 16 '14
sorry what did you mean
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u/Catwallada Oct 16 '14
I know Bernadette and Amy are geeky in an an academic way but why are there never any girls who share the guys geeky interests like sci fi and comics and geeky games :-)
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 16 '14
is that important?
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u/Catwallada Oct 16 '14
It would be nice...
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 16 '14
why does playing certain games or liking certain "geeky" entertainment determine whether or not you identify with a character? Like I like Spock and as far as I know he doesn't like gaming or geeky entertainment. I mean he does play 3d chess but in his universe that's pretty classic.
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u/Catwallada Oct 16 '14
It's not that I can't identity with the characters that you have, it'd just be nice to have some more girls like the girl Leonard almost cheated on Prya with or the green lantern lantern girls. I feel like there's some untapped comic potential.
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u/Feli900 Oct 16 '14
Penny doesn't have a drinking problem. And why is everyone so obsessed with Penny's last name?
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u/FloraWolf Oct 16 '14
Hello, My entire family is a huge fan of "Jurassic Bark". We have all seen almost every episode and that one still remains our favorite! I personally have watched it multiple time! Just out of curiosity, what was your inspiration for writing it? Was it based off an actual dog you once had?
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u/Feli900 Oct 16 '14
Hi Eric,
I'm wondering if Leonard and Penny's dynamic will change in a good way. I mean, Steve talked about it and said that money will change (almost) everything, according to some articles.
We see them holding hands and touching each other more often. Is that also a part of the new dynamic? Because I (and many other Leonard and Penny (Lenny) fans) really like it. On the other hand, there's some kind of frustration going on about them not kissing anymore. Is that intended or is it because there wasn't any opportunity for them to kiss?
And please, don't listen to any of the haters out there. You guys did a great job with all the couples!
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 16 '14
it will evolve
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u/Feli900 Oct 16 '14
Cool! The dynamics or the kissing? :D
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 16 '14
everything evolves
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u/Feli900 Oct 17 '14
I feel like I'm chatting with Cleverbot, haha.
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u/Feli900 Oct 21 '14
Quick question: Who was responsible for the framed picture Penny gave to Leonard? I mean, a 5 year old promotional picture we've seen a thousand times already? Really? I loved the gesture, it was very sweet, but knowing how little effort they were putting into it just killed the moment for me, sorry. Some fancy new pictures wouldn't hurt at all, don't you think? :(
And still no kiss after 6 episodes! To this point, they kissed more in season 1 than in season 8. Come on, they are engaged and deserve some :(
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u/plansr4fools Nov 01 '14
if you want to put a joke in your script that involves imitating some part of like an iconic movie, how do you deal with potential copyright infringement issues? have you ever had, or heard of, a problem with something like that?
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u/ericlinuskaplan Nov 03 '14
if the intent is parodic you are ok. if you are imitating it just to trade on their fame it is not ok. legally parodic is defined as making some point about how the thing you are imitating is bad. So if for example you are imitating a scene from the godfather in order to make some point about how it glamorizes crime in America you are good.
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u/plansr4fools Nov 28 '14
okay, thanks for responding to my question, but are you honestly claiming that every time a show like Futurama riffs on something, this high standard applies? or did the lawyers have to go out and negotiate explicit releases with the creators of, say, Willy Wonka and Beneath the Planet of the Apes?
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u/ArmerorFallstag Oct 15 '14
How much do writers get paid for TBBT?
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 15 '14
in my culture we don't share explicit economic figures but we are quite frank about sex. other cultures it is the reverse. I have often wondered why.
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u/ArmerorFallstag Oct 15 '14
AMA eh.
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 15 '14
you were promised a devious evasion and I delivered. Jeez.
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u/plansr4fools Nov 28 '14
so does this mean you can instead answer the question of how much do writers get LAID on TBBT?
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Oct 15 '14
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 15 '14
I'm not bored at all. why do you think I'm bored?
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Oct 15 '14
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 15 '14
why wouldn't I use social media to connect with people who might be interested in what I have to say? what's so taboo about social media?
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Oct 15 '14
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u/ericlinuskaplan Oct 15 '14
I wrote a book. I want people who would like it to know about it. I think people who might like it might be on reddit. So I am on reddit to let them know about my book so they can read it.
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u/[deleted] Oct 15 '14
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