The Never Ending Toadfish Interview Cycle!

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

1) What is your favorite "non-charismatic" animal (=nothing traditionally cute etc. allowed)?
Awww, do I have to pick just one? Lung fish and Greenland sharks, if not. I got really, really excited when they had them at the Baltimore aquarium a couple years ago.

2) What do you consider the strangest word in your/the English language?
"Awkward"

3) Commercial fishery has a catastrophic effect on the oceans but without it many humans would die of hunger (and fish is very healthy if kept free of pollution). What do you think about that dilemma and does it influence you own consumer choices?
Warning: Fish farms consume caught wild fish. 1 ton of farmed fish requires 4-5 tons of wild fish as input.
I don't eat fish (being vegetarian and all) so no, it doesn't influence my choices. But it's a very serious dilemma. I think if we stopped destroying the seabed with trawlers (I think it's trawlers that do that), we'd have less of a problem.
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1. Do you celebrate pi day?

2. Do you plan to buy the next Discworld book when it comes out?

3. How do you feel about the word "moist"?

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

1. Do you celebrate pi day?

I would, if I knew what day it was supposed to be on.  What would one do, by the way?  Eat a circular pie for dinner?

Or, perhaps, play this video 100 times before bed?



[youtube=425,350]Mfr7xG6smhU[/youtube]


2. Do you plan to buy the next Discworld book when it comes out?

Absofrikkinlutely.  And on the Kindle format, too..... what else? 

3. How do you feel about the word "moist"?

Well.... every time I hear the word.....I have this yen to go look at my collection of prawn photos, for some strange reason....

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01) Some people consider that the internet was the Beginning Of The End.  However, in a recent study, it's been shown that people who routinely surf the web have noticeably more frontal brain activity than people who do not, given similar activities.

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2228325/internet-boosts-brain-power

What is your opinion of the WWW? 

10) Caffeine, delivered in the form of coffee or tea is likely the most imbibed drug by humans, even surpassing alcohol as far as I can tell.

World coffee production:  7,742,675 metric tonnes annually (2007, according to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee )
World tea production: 3,550,194 metric tonnes annually (2005, according to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea )  an article which also claims tea-drinking is only surpassed by water, world-wide.  But they do not verify that statement.

Are you in the majority or minority, when it comes to a daily dose of caffeine?   Care to elaborate?

11) Some folk correctly point out, that without cheap single-person computers, the internet (good or bad) would likely never have happened-- in spite of Al Gore's increased funding efforts. 

Some philosophers see the internet as merely an emergent property of readily available computing power, and that the real Major Cultural Shift is in cheap computers and cheap computing power.   

It has become so incredibly cheap, that formerly simple appliances now sport computers inside, to increase their effectiveness (computer-powerd toaster, makes perfect toast is but one example). 

Cheap hand calculators have effectively hamstrung ordinary humans' ability to do simple arithmetic -- why learn multiplication tables, when a cheap calculator does it faster and more accurate?

Do you think the widespread availability of cheap and powerful electronic "calculating engines" will eventually have a similar effect on people's memories?    Why memorize facts, when the answer is just a few keystrokes away...

Thoughts?

[Swatopluk]

I will only go for the last part of the last question: That battle was lost with the arrival of the art of writing some time ago (Platon discussed it in his Phaidros/Phaedrus dialogue btw). Traditional* analphabeths usually have a far better** memory.

*as opposed to the modern 'functional illiterates' that simply see no need in this reading stuff
**= better trained

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

I will only go for the last part of the last question: That battle was lost with the arrival of the art of writing some time ago (Platon discussed it in his Phaidros/Phaedrus dialogue btw). Traditional* analphabeths usually have a far better** memory.

*as opposed to the modern 'functional illiterates' that simply see no need in this reading stuff
**= better trained

Watch the PI video?  I like the harmonies within the chorus, myself.  And I freely admit I cannot understand some of the regular verse....but I like the chorus.

[Swatopluk]

I will only go for the last part of the last question: That battle was lost with the arrival of the art of writing some time ago (Platon discussed it in his Phaidros/Phaedrus dialogue btw). Traditional* analphabeths usually have a far better** memory.

*as opposed to the modern 'functional illiterates' that simply see no need in this reading stuff
**= better trained

Watch the PI video?  I like the harmonies within the chorus, myself.  And I freely admit I cannot understand some of the regular verse....but I like the chorus.

I downloaded that the first time it appeared on the forum. But where is the connection to illiteracy? I also love orthodox chant despite not speaking Russian (not to speak of ancient Bulgarian). Some of the older pieces sound really weird (and extremly modern, not your cliche medieval).

[Griffin NoName]

Enough of this chit chat !!  Let's get back to the real business of this thread.

01) Some people consider that the internet was the Beginning Of The End.  However, in a recent study, it's been shown that people who routinely surf the web have noticeably more frontal brain activity than people who do not, given similar activities.

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2228325/internet-boosts-brain-power

What is your opinion of the WWW?

The WWW is system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet so I am unsure whether the answer to this question needs to distinguish between the WWW and the Internet.   However, my opinion is the same for both.

There's no doubt in my mind that they keep the brain active. For example, while writing this post, I have to think. Whether the research mentioned is meaningful I have no idea. There may be all sorts of reasons why frontal lobe brain activity is differrent in the two groups mentioned and the Alzheimer's Society doesn't seem to rate it.

My opinion otherwise?  Cannot imagine life without it. No idea how I survived before !!

10) Caffeine, delivered in the form of coffee or tea is likely the most imbibed drug by humans, even surpassing alcohol as far as I can tell.

World coffee production:  7,742,675 metric tonnes annually (2007, according to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee )
World tea production: 3,550,194 metric tonnes annually (2005, according to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea )  an article which also claims tea-drinking is only surpassed by water, world-wide.  But they do not verify that statement.

Are you in the majority or minority, when it comes to a daily dose of caffeine?   Care to elaborate?

I used to be a high level coffee drinker. Since my racing heart diagnosis I restrict it to one cup first thing, then only drink decaffeinated coffee for the rest of the day/evening, having been told how much caffeine increases speed of heartbeats and warned off it. Sometimes I don't even have the one cup first thing. I do drink several cups of decaffeinated a day. I haven't actually noticed any difference from when I drank lots of caffeine which puzzles me somewhat given all the hype.

11) Some folk correctly point out, that without cheap single-person computers, the internet (good or bad) would likely never have happened-- in spite of Al Gore's increased funding efforts. 

Some philosophers see the internet as merely an emergent property of readily available computing power, and that the real Major Cultural Shift is in cheap computers and cheap computing power.   

It has become so incredibly cheap, that formerly simple appliances now sport computers inside, to increase their effectiveness (computer-powerd toaster, makes perfect toast is but one example). 

Cheap hand calculators have effectively hamstrung ordinary humans' ability to do simple arithmetic -- why learn multiplication tables, when a cheap calculator does it faster and more accurate?

Do you think the widespread availability of cheap and powerful electronic "calculating engines" will eventually have a similar effect on people's memories?    Why memorize facts, when the answer is just a few keystrokes away...

Thoughts?

I would say it has already had an effect on memory, but not necessarily on remembering fewer facts, just on what sort of facts are memorised. For example, our schools seems to teach totally different stuff to when I was at school. No longer can I quote some every day Dickensian phrase and expect people to know what the hell I am talking about...... Whether the old facts were more vital then the new facts in terms of survival when our society falls apart which it will at some point for some reason, remains to be seen.

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1. How do you store your socks?

2. What do you do when you have nothing to do?

3. Do you think recycling works?

[Pachyderm]

1. How do you store your socks?

In a drawer

2. What do you do when you have nothing to do?

Read

3. Do you think recycling works?

I think it is a valuable tool in getting people to think about the environment, and used to doing something to cover their part. Recycling itself is not especially effective on the grand scale at the moment, but as the technology becomes better and more cost-effective (letting more organisations be more involved in the process) it will become so. Basically, I see it as a big step in the right direction, but one that can't stand on it's own. It needs to be taken as a part of a much larger process, otherwise it will just be a sop to the conscience.

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1. What's your favourite time of day?

2. What's your favourite time of year?

3. What are your feelings about the Angora Rabbit?

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

1. What's your favourite time of day?
You can't make me pick one! Sunrise and sunset. There's fifteen minutes in each that are absolute perfection.

2. What's your favourite time of year?
Spring.

3. What are your feelings about the Angora Rabbit?
I kind of want one.
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23. What is the occult connection?

42. Do you prefer words or images as a medium?

5. Who is your favorite pope?

[Swatopluk]

23. What is the occult connection?
Burroughing into it. Will soon sheae the truth!

42. Do you prefer words or images as a medium?The Total Perspective Vortex is not text based to my knowledge.
I think it is highly depending on the context. There's a lot that cannot be properly/prcatically described with words (e.g. complex machinery) while anything abstract usually defies depiction. Words and images have to support each other.


5. Who is your favorite pope?
John Paul I.
He went too early (although the murder hypothesis is likely wrong. But possibly he died just in time of natural courses to avoid being murdered)

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a) What is the latest dream you can remember?

b) Under what circumstances would you consider violence to be justified (with you as the committer)?

c) Up to what degree do ways justify means for you and in general?

Edit: I just want to say that questions b+c have no connection to the Tiller murder and were typed before I became aware of it.

[Darlica]

a) What is the latest dream you can remember?
A dream from last night about the kids in a family my family used to partly spend our vacations together with... I ended up searching the net for all three of them, they appear to have done well in life 

b) Under what circumstances would you consider violence to be justified (with you as the committer)?
An immediate threat to my life or someone dear to me (good or bad, that would include the family dog/pet...) I guess a threat to someone totally defenceless like a small child would trigger me too but in other cases I would hopefully remain clear headed enough to call for reinforcements instead.

c) Up to what degree do ways justify means for you and in general?
To a rather small degree, but as usual it all comes down to context.

¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤

1) Have you ever felt paralysed by fear?

2) What did/would trigger such a reaction in you?

3)  What common (common mean that ape brain and cats/dogs/rats et al  doesn't count for us westerners) food item won't you touch with a 10ft pole?

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

1) Have you ever felt paralysed by fear?

Never that I recall.  I tend to go into "mental overdrive" when under extreme stress (aka emergency situation).  That is, time appears to slow to the point I can think a bit about each single action I'm about to do.

2) What did/would trigger such a reaction in you?

President Cheney.  (no, seriously.... Canada, here I come...)

3)  What common (common mean that ape brain and cats/dogs/rats et al  doesn't count for us westerners) food item won't you touch with a 10ft pole?


Freshwater fish.  I break out in serious hives, and have trouble breathing.... so you can easily see why.

--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--

Small) If you're eating to treat yourself, or to celebrate, do you go out to a commercial place (fast-food, restaurant, etc) or do you purchase premium ingredients and prepare it yourself?

Medium) If you partake of animal proteins, which species is your favorite? If not, what's your favorite non-animal protein? 

Large)  If you're eating out, and you go ahead and order that over-the-top dessert, do you, as a sop to your conscience, order a Diet soda as well?

Family Size)  Bonus-- if you like to eat steak*, how best to cook it?  Raw?  Sorta raw?  Medium-rare?  Medium? Medium with burnt-bits?  Burnt?  Feel free to wax lyrical on your favorite method(s) of preparation.  _{(*or, feel free to subsitute your protein of choice, and how it is Best Prepared.  Yes-- with capitol letters. )}

[Earthling]

Small) If you're eating to treat yourself, or to celebrate, do you go out to a commercial place (fast-food, restaurant, etc) or do you purchase premium ingredients and prepare it yourself?
We definitely prepare our own goodies. Way better than you can get in the restaurants around here, and less expensive. We also accompany the meal with our own homemade wine (17%-21% aclcohol!), which is way yummy too, and avoid having to drive home drunk, or the crisis of not having enough wine with dinner (assuming we decide to drive home less than tipsy).

Medium) If you partake of animal proteins, which species is your favorite? If not, what's your favorite non-animal protein? 
We gravitate towards salmon, but that's mostly because my wife won't eat anything that had fur on it at any time during its existence. I have a disproportionate and somewhat overwhelming urge to consume all the pepperoni pizza (with mushrooms) on the planet.

Large)  If you're eating out, and you go ahead and order that over-the-top dessert, do you, as a sop to your conscience, order a Diet soda as well?
I haven't had a soda in years. I hate the stuff. If I'm having a fancy-schmancy dessert in a nice eatery, I'll have a delicious black coffee with it. The dessert will either be pecan pie, or it will have a nearly lethal amount of chocolate.

Family Size)  Bonus-- if you like to eat steak*, how best to cook it?  Raw?  Sorta raw?  Medium-rare?  Medium? Medium with burnt-bits?  Burnt?  Feel free to wax lyrical on your favorite method(s) of preparation.  (*or, feel free to subsitute your protein of choice, and how it is Best Prepared.  Yes-- with capitol letters. )
Broiled salmon fillets. Take a nice half-pound fillet, remove the skin, smother it with Lea & Perrins Chipotle Tabasco sauce, shake on a healthy amount of black pepper, refrigerate for a couple of hours. Prepare some stir-fried veggies - garlic, onion, mushroom, peapods, etc. - and some brown rice. Broil the salmon on high until its fragrance is strong enough to tell you it's done (this will vary by the individual, I use The Force). Serve the veggies on top of the rice, salmon to the side, and have a bowl of chilled pineaple chunks on the table. We have just about polished off the last of the Barolo (four cases - egad!), but it went particularly well with this dish. If you prefer white wine, a Vouvray or a Muscadet will also compliment it quite nicely.


What makes you pull over to the side of the road? (Something you see, not making a phone call or running out of gas)

What is your Most Fun Thing that you do?

Why have you chosen to live in the house/town/country where you live?

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

What makes you pull over to the side of the road? (Something you see, not making a phone call or running out of gas)
Neat rock formations, interesting plants, a lovely little glen, a gorgeous sunset, a perfect nightsky, a fantastic storm.

What is your Most Fun Thing that you do?
Keep busy, actually. For someone so lazy, it's been novel to stay busy instead of lounging around. Reading, forums, writing, hanging out with friends, working, etc.

Why have you chosen to live in the house/town/country where you live?
I didn't, actually. I was moved here as a little girl and I haven't managed to leave yet. But if I were to say why I'm glad I live here (it does have its good points) it would be the access to fresh produce right out of the field, the mild winters (I don't miss snow), that I can be at the beach in four hours or the mountains in two. Yosemite is in my backyard, plus I have even better parks just as near by (if you ever end up around here, I'll take you to Kings Canyon NP, which is prettier than Yosemite). The Bay area is a couple hours away, and LA is a few more. Even major act preforms within six hours of my location from Depche Mode to minor names in every genre.

Are you a pirate?

Do you use net speak IRL?

Do you bake? If you do, what's your favorite thing to make?

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Are you a pirate?
I have my days, matey, but me boat is impounded and me dobloons are buried far away to buy a new one.

Do you use net speak IRL? Wink
R u c-rius? Rly? LOL
---
I may use some contractions while texting but I try to control myself.

Do you bake? If you do, what's your favorite thing to make?
Bread cake, in fact I should make one!

1. Which composer was crazier? (excluding Mussorgsky's delirium tremens, and Schumann's sickness).

2. Which painter was saner?

3. Which politician would classify as a necessary evil?

[Swatopluk]

1. Which composer was crazier? (excluding Mussorgsky's delirium tremens, and Schumann's sickness).
Scriabin would be an option. He could have made a career in Hollywood or Vegas with effect shows (he proposed but where not yet techn(olog)ically feasible)
If megalomania counts, then Wagner and Mahler would qualify.

2. Which painter was saner?
M.C.Escher. Don't get fooled by his crazy pictures.
OK, strictly spoken he was not a painter but a printer

3. Which politician would classify as a necessary evil?
In the US? SecDef Gates comes to mind.
Over here Merkel is not doing much but that is better than most alternatives at the moment.
Putin is not a pleasant guy to say the least but he seems to be the most sane, capable and pragmatic ruler Russia had for some time (Gorbachev was nice but ineffective).
The GOP leadership qualifies as evil and laughably incompetent. If that is necessary to keep even such a bunch of spineless whimps like the Dems in power, then we might be grateful for their existence. Imagine, if the GOP was run by Putin instead of Boss Limbaugh...

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1) Why, in your opinion, did Sarah Palin resign at the time and in the way she did?

2) When do you get up in the morning and when do you go to sleep (weekdays/weekend)?

3) What do you think about zoophilia?