What personality trait in people raises a red flag with you?
When a “grown man” makes life / wellbeing decisions based on what others will think of him, one of the words in quotation marks is in question. So, I guess… conformity.
If you had to give up one word that you use regularly, what would it be?
THE. Having a definite article contributes to an overly developed sense of specialness and entitlement, bordering on the narcissistic [or should I say, “bordering on A narcissistic” ? ]
Seriously though, I’d like to believe I’ve already jettisoned words with no value-added, or attempt to do so.
Carlin discussed a huge list of euphemisms and weasel words contributing to the weakening of the language, but I try to only use those words to poke fun at the people who use them – e.g. “pre-owned.” Those words function to point out attempts to be manipulative, and so I wouldn’t eliminate them, because that’s an important function.
That depends on how you define “home.” If by home, one means the place I’ve lived for the past decade [Bangalore, KA, India,] then its antipode is in the eastern Pacific Ocean – off the coast of South America. This would make the farthest I’ve been from home: Lima, Peru. If, however, one means the place I was born and grew up in [i.e. Northwest Indiana in the USA,] its antipode is in the Indian Ocean – west of Australia, and the farthest I’ve been would probably be the southern tip of Bali, Indonesia.
Either way, one could say that I’ve never been far from home (despite having visited 40-some countries over all continents except Australia and Antarctica.)
It should be small enough that I won’t acquire new things without asking whether they are necessary, and whether their value exceeds their spatial cost. [And, also, such that it encourages spending time outside.] Besides that, it should be an environment within which one can live healthily.
I looked up what “Black Acid” is because it was mentioned in a Hunter S. Thompson book I was reading (i.e. “Kingdom of Fear”) and it sounded like a thing one should steer clear of if one doesn’t want to regain consciousness pantless in a ditch with no recollection of the last several hours. Well, you can’t avoid something if you don’t know what it is. Because “Knowledge is Power!”
“A-Team,” “Knight Rider,” “Taxi,” “The Jeffersons,” “Three’s Company,” etc. With plenty of reruns of “Gilligan’s Island,” “The Andy Griffith Show,” and “I Love Lucy.”
Deep cuts: “The Master” and “Airwolf”
How would you design the city of the future?
For the robots to rest comfortably over our cold, dead bones.
Apparently, my [first] name is of French / West German origin and means “bear” “hard.” I’m sure it was chosen because it’s a saint’s name — actually several saints, most of whom were French and none – that I’m aware of – was Irish. This is interesting because my ancestral origins are primarily Irish on both sides, though my family name is apparently of Scottish origin. (I was aware some Scottish ancestry was in there, but didn’t know the name came from Scotland.)
The need to break free of the program -- e.g. to be master of fear & anger, not slave to them.
In the order in which they popped into my head: 1.) Caddyshack (1980); 2.) The Matrix (1999); 3.) Hidden Fortress (1958); 4.) Alien (1979); 5.) Casablanca (1942); 6.) Seven (1995); 7.) Kung Fu Hustle (2004); 8.) The Dark Knight (2008); 9.) Inception (2010); 10.) Unforgiven (1992)
