What was the question again?

[lnr]

That's 12 sets asked, and only 2 sets answered, so if anyone else wants to ask me some questions go ahead. I shall answer them in the comments here. I'll only set you some if you've asked me some first.

Update: Thanks, those were fun. I think I've had enough now though :-)

Comments

Ooh, look at her. I suppose I've been more asked than asking. About to demonstrate why.

[beingjdc.livejournal.com]

1. What has been the happiest calendar year of your life, and which would you most like to have skipped?

2. What is the optimum number of cats to own? Should they be named under one logical structure, or on a case-by-case basis?

3. How long could you survive without the internet? What is the most you would pay per month for a connection before you gave up, in a world with no public terminals?

4. Would you rather live in a world with no hills, or a world with no lakes?

5. What would happen if you were a contestant on Big Brother?

Re: Ooh, look at her. I suppose I've been more asked than asking. About to demonstrate why.

[lnr]

1. What has been the happiest calendar year of your life, and which would you most like to have skipped?

I don't think I can pick a happiest. Ther's been lots of years that have been perfectly nice, and mostly I have a disposition to be fairly happy. As for ones to skip: well mostly even the bad years had good bits in, and while I'd love to have skipped the worst bits there are other bits I'd hate to have missed. 1995 probably wins though: first half was OK, but did badly in mods, cheated on someone over the summer, fell out with them horribly once back at college, and then they died. Not a good year.

2. What is the optimum number of cats to own? Should they be named under one logical structure, or on a case-by-case basis?

I think if I were to own cats I'd probably want two. Enough to keep each other company, but not enough to be hard to look after and fuss over enough. Case-by-case basis for the naming I think. I'd love to own cats, and I certainly think of myself as a fairly catty sort of person (though not quite on the scale of yourself or Marna) but unfortunately my mother would never forgive me, as she's allergic to them, so it's unlikely to happen any time soon.

3. How long could you survive without the internet? What is the most you would pay per month for a connection before you gave up, in a world with no public terminals?

Ooooh, I dunno. That's a hard one. I'd find it really hard to be honest, as so much of my life is tied up in it: friends shopping, entertainment. I think if I had to I could give it up, so technically I could survive forever, but I really wouldn't want to. As for how much I'd pay, dunno, more than about 50 quid a month would probably be pushing it, but then I'm used to it being so much cheaper than that that it would seem daft to pay much more. If it came to the crunch maybe I'd think it were more worth it.

4. Would you rather live in a world with no hills, or a world with no lakes?

Oh god. Um. If I can still have the sea then no lakes. And probably no lakes anyway actually. Hills are good, even if there aren't many of them round here. It's still good to stand on top of Castle Hill and watch the world. And I love the area around Mirfield where my parents live.

5. What would happen if you were a contestant on Big Brother?

I'd probably flirt outrageously, snog anyone who'd let me, try and stop everyone arguing, get on OK with everyone, and get voted off at the first opportunity for being supremely irritating. But that's just a guess, since I've never actually seen it.

[beingjdc.livejournal.com]

There are hills around Mirfield? Where did they come from? Though actually the view from my parents' living room is incredible, especially in the snow. They're right on the edge of the old quarry, so everthing falls away and you're straight from the other side of the road to Briestfield, and over towards the Emley Moor transmitter.

Also nice is if you walk through Lower Hopton, and turn left onto Granny Lane (where my grandparents did in fact live, I've had such a twee life) then you can walk up through the woods past the John Cotton works and back round the gold course, that's fairly pretty.

[lnr]

I was thinking that whole area, rather than necessarily just in Mirfield itself. I dunno if you don't think of it as hilly, though that would seem a little odd to me, but it's certainly lovely compared to Cambridgeshire.

Emley Moor is fab, been one of my landmarks for years and years, nice my parents live in line of sight of it again. Entertaining to drive up past it and see just how enormous it really is!

In the interests of fairness...

[songster.livejournal.com]

1) If you could change your sexuality, would you? What would it be? I don't mean just whether you'd choose to be homo/hetero/bi or poly/mono, but also aspects like sexual appetite, dom/sub etc. Feel free to interpret this as a non-permanent change if it makes the answer easier or more interesting.

2) If you could travel back in time and prevent one person from dying, who would it be?

3) If you could change history and introduce one scientific advance many years earlier, which would it be?

4) If you knew there was going to be a world collapse of civilisation, a real rebuild-from-Stone-Age situation, and you were able to transmit exactly one sentence to the future people, what would it be? What of our current knowledge, cultural of scientific, is most worth preserving? (Note Richard Feynmann's already had a go at this one)

5) How many roads must a man walk down? That is, do you think it's necessary to try out and experience many different avenues (relationships, career choices, drugs, whatever) in order to be fulfilled in life? Does your personal answer differ from the general case?

Re: In the interests of fairness...

[lnr]

1) If you could change your sexuality, would you? What would it be? I don't mean just whether you'd choose to be homo/hetero/bi or poly/mono, but also aspects like sexual appetite, dom/sub etc. Feel free to interpret this as a non-permanent change if it makes the answer easier or more interesting.

I'm pretty happy with the balance I have between attraction towards men and women. It seems to work for me. I would like to change my libido in some ways though. At the moment it's somewhat artficially suppressed in physical terms by the anti-depressants I'm taking, which is definitely something I'd like to change fairly soon. I'd kind of like it to be a bit more voracious in terms of interest in sex in the first place too though. Not that I'm uninterested per se, I'd just quite like to be a little more so. In terms of poly/mononess I don't think I'm the sort of person who's moderately happy in both sorts of relationships, I'd like it if poly were a little easier for me though. I don't know how much that answers your question. In terms of non-permanent changes I'm not sure there are any, might be interesting to try having a more few kinks maybe. Just to see what it's like. Be interested to see what sex is like from a male POV too, but that's less of a mental change!

2) If you could travel back in time and prevent one person from dying, who would it be?

Ian.

3) If you could change history and introduce one scientific advance many years earlier, which would it be?

The knowledge of the necessity for clean water. I think that alone could make one hell of a difference. Though I dread to think of its implication in times of famine perhaps.

4) If you knew there was going to be a world collapse of civilisation, a real rebuild-from-Stone-Age situation, and you were able to transmit exactly one sentence to the future people, what would it be? What of our current knowledge, cultural of scientific, is most worth preserving? (Note Richard Feynmann's already had a go at this one)

"Good luck". To be honest I don't know what's most worth preserving. The sort of general survival skills that are likely to be needed are one thing that springs to mind, but given man worked out how to make fire by itself once and so on no doubt we could do it again. And other things I wonder how they could be preserved in isolation to be honest. Perhaps I should pass on a snatch of song of some sort, since I think preserving some sort of art is a good way to go.

5) How many roads must a man walk down? That is, do you think it's necessary to try out and experience many different avenues (relationships, career choices, drugs, whatever) in order to be fulfilled in life? Does your personal answer differ from the general case?

I don't think you do need to experience many things, no. I think experience can enrich your life, and there are places where you might wonder "what if?" but throwing away a good thing just because you're not sure if something better might be around the corner isn't always a great idea. I think the same applies for me as for most people. I do think some people hanker for change more than others do though, and that for them fulfilment might be harder to find.

[gnimmel.livejournal.com]

It's a long, dull friday evening so if you'll accept questions from random people...

1) sparkly or strokeable?
2) What's the most remote place you have ever been (either physically or mentally)?
3) Giant robotic monkeys from space appear at your door, offering to take you and as many other people as you like back to their planet (which is earthlike, habitable etc.). Would you consider going with them?
4) Dawn or dusk?
5) If you could go back in time and speak to yourself as you were then for five minutes, which time would you go back to and what would you say?

[lnr]

1) sparkly or strokeable?

Oooh, hard. Strokeable I think. Shiny is fun but velvet is lovely.

2) What's the most remote place you have ever been (either physically or mentally)?

Physically it will have been the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco, though since we were an expedition of around 25 people we were never very alone. But no running water or electricity and so on, and sleeping under the stars. It was a long way from life here in Cambridge. Even in the villages. Mentally I don't know. I don't think I've ever been very remote from reality for long. There were some very dark places in my second year, but friends and loved ones helped me through them.

3) Giant robotic monkeys from space appear at your door, offering to take you and as many other people as you like back to their planet (which is earthlike, habitable etc.). Would you consider going with them?

Cool! And definitely! It sounds like a fabulous opportunity, not just for myself but for the human race. And I've read too many space operatic exploration novels as a kid not to want to have a go at it myself!

4) Dawn or dusk?

Dusk I think, especially in autumn for some reason. Though summer dawning over Oxford at 4am on the way home to bed was always very beautiful. The colour of the stone catches the light beautifully and it's awfully peaceful. But sitting in the garden on a lovely day as dusk falls, watching the bats and the stars come out, gorgeous.

5) If you could go back in time and speak to yourself as you were then for five minutes, which time would you go back to and what would you say?

I don't think I would. I don't think I'd take much notice if I did anyway. Going back to the first time I cheated on someone and saying "You'll regret it" springs to mind, but to be honest I think I could have worked that out anyway at the time, but chose to do it anyway. Consequences of things can't always be forseen, and while I could tell the me then exactly how horrible the results could be it's perfectly possible that in persuading them to do something else I'd end up with a different unexpected and nasty situation instead.

[keirf.livejournal.com]

1. Excluding human beings, which animal do you think is most conscious, and why?

2. You obtain incontrovertible proof that God does not and has never existed. Do you reveal it to the world, and why (or why not)?

3. If you could be granted an eidetic memory in exchange for losing everything you can remember from your birth up to three years ago, would you take the option or turn it down, and why?

4. You have a choice between travelling 10, 100, 1000 or 10000 years into the future to spend one day there before returning back. Which do you choose and why?

5. You catch sight of a clock in a mirror that says it's 3:53. What time is it really. Oh, hang on, that was one of my quiz questions. How about - one primary colour is about to permanently disappear from the world, and you have to decide which one. How do you choose?

[lnr]

1. Excluding human beings, which animal do you think is most conscious, and why?

Most conscious? Interesting. To be honest there's a lot of animals out there that I have very little idea of exactly how conscious they are, and no way of ever telling. Pets often seem to suffer psychological as well as physical pain. I think it's fairly clear to me that a prawn say doesn't have much in the way of consciousness, but I'm not sure I'd want to try and rank all the mammals, and I suspect they probably nearly all do to varying extents. Probably one of the great apes no doubt, though I wonder how much I say that because of their similarity to us. Perhaps dolphins, for a similar level of sophistication of brain power in the sea.

2. You obtain incontrovertible proof that God does not and has never existed. Do you reveal it to the world, and why (or why not)?

Goodness, that's a hard one. I'd have to weigh up how much I think it's likely to be believed, especially by fundamentalists. (Just because it's incontrovertible doens't mean there won't be people out there who are perfectly capable of disbelieving anyway). If I thought there might be real harm caused by revealing it in a big song and dance then I'd probably not do so. But I think I'd have to tell people in a more quiet way, spread it gradually through friends and family, I think that might be a safer way.

3. If you could be granted an eidetic memory in exchange for losing everything you can remember from your birth up to three years ago, would you take the option or turn it down, and why?

Turn it down. I don't think I'm that bothered about having one anyway, I mean it's a neat gimmick but I don't think it would make a huge improvement to my life in anyway. And no way do I want to lose all those memories. There are people who would be gone. Friends and family I'd have no recollection of at all. And I may not have seen them recently (and they may well be dead) but if they're still in my memory they still exist and that's good. There are some bad memories too, but they help me see that things aren't always as bad as they might be sometimes, remind me that things can and do get better, and show me where I've gone wrong in the past so I can do my best not to do so again. Plus with memories gone I think I'd lose a lot of what makes me be me. I'll stay as I am thanks.

4. You have a choice between travelling 10, 100, 1000 or 10000 years into the future to spend one day there before returning back. Which do you choose and why?

Probably 100. 10 is too close, I risk finding out things that might make me worry about my life and so on in ways which wouldn't be very helpful. 10000 is just too far ahead for me, I don't have that much interest. And I think it might be just too alien. That leaves 100 or 1000 and I think the former will have just enough in common with the present to make it the most fascinating. Maybe we'll have our flying cars by then!

5. You catch sight of a clock in a mirror that says it's 3:53. What time is it really. Oh, hang on, that was one of my quiz questions. How about - one primary colour is about to permanently disappear from the world, and you have to decide which one. How do you choose?

Quite likely 3:23 : my brain seems to have turned the image back round to a way I expect it to look or the : would be the other side of the five, it'll probably have got the threes right (since they're not easy to mistake for anything else) but it wouldn't be surprising if it saw a backwards 2 and thught "five".

As for primary colours are we talking RGB? CMYK? Kids paints (RGBY)? What? I don't like yellow all that much as a colour, but I can't quite think what the world would be like without it. I think it's going to be pretty weird whichever though. If it's RGB probably best to get rid of one of R and G since they seem to cause most confusion with people with defective colour vision. I like red lots, so goodbye green, the trees are going to look a bit odd without you, but I'm sure I'll get used to it.

[damerell.livejournal.com]

Flying cars? I hope not - most people can't handle the things in two dimensions.

[ewx.livejournal.com]

Perhaps the flying cars will be automated (and perhaps software will be good enough that a sensible person would trust their life to it given a choice ... perhaps one for the 1000 years in the future rather than the 100).

[damerell.livejournal.com]

With automation we could probably cram them in tightly enough on the ground, and it would be enormously more efficient. In particular, assuming marvellous software, I'd have machines travelling to a common destination link up fore and aft for space and aero benefits.

[ewx.livejournal.com]

The desire for flying cars has very little to do with efficiency of any kind, we just want to live in the future (well, more so than we are already).

[damerell.livejournal.com]

I think my future has no cars - not that this will come as news to you.

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

Well you've already done me but... fair's fair, have some yourself. :-)

1. In your life up to the age of 16 and no later, what's the one thing you'd undo or do differently?
2. Do you have any recurring dreams or nightmares?
3. If you could fix your weight at your ideal (not necessarily the textbook one), and never gain or lose again but be able to eat as you pleased forever, at the expense of something major in your life (a person, alcohol, chocolate, half your salary?) - would you? and what would you sacrifice?
4. Would you bonk on TV for 50 grand?
5. Magrat, Granny W, or Nanny O?

[lnr]

1. In your life up to the age of 16 and no later, what's the one thing you'd undo or do differently?

Um, erm. Dunno. Be less of a goody two shoes at 13 and not be scared to snog my boyfriend of the time maybe, and then perhaps he wouldn't have got bored and dumped me. Then again given he was that shallow maybe I was better off without him, but what do you know at 13? I can't think of anything really awful that I did as a kid, or anything I didn't do and wish I had.

2. Do you have any recurring dreams or nightmares?

Not really. I mean quite a few of my nightmares have teeth falling out or cracking, but that's just because it's one of my strongest daft fears, and they're always rather different dreams otherwise. Sometimes over the course of a night, or a long morning dozing, I'll dip in and out of the same dream over and over, perhaps continuing the plot, or perhaps going back and doing a bit differently. And similar sort of adventureish plots turn up over and over, but with different people and places and things.

3. If you could fix your weight at your ideal (not necessarily the textbook one), and never gain or lose again but be able to eat as you pleased forever, at the expense of something major in your life (a person, alcohol, chocolate, half your salary?) - would you? and what would you sacrifice?

I probably would yes, because I love food and I'm terrible at keeping an eye on what I eat when there are lots of nice things around. I just don't want to have to do that. I don't know what I'd sacrifice though. I probably could give up alcohol yes, and of those things it's probably the one I'd miss most while still finding it possible, so perhaps that. I couldn't sacrifice a person for it, and half my salary would leave me rather struggling to live or sponging off Richard, so no, not that either.

4. Would you bonk on TV for 50 grand?

Yeah, probably less even. Depends on when it would be being shown and what channel and under what guise (tasteful documentary, ghastly gameshow, some sort of drama, etc) it was being filmed etc just how much money would be needed. I'd probably be pretty embarrassed about it at first, but not really ashamed or anything. Having already decided I can do still porn photos I don't see there's too much difference in going on to doing video work. Though with the stills of course you get more chance to only pick the really flattering ones.

5. Magrat, Granny W, or Nanny O?

Granny W I think. Nanny O too irritatingly jolly, Magrat too wet.