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What will you never do in your whole life and why?
Mez, I am one who strives not to be judgemental, including on myself. (I fail a lot on the latter.) I associate that with not ruling things out; you don’t know what might happen, and what you might find yourself driven to. For Man is a Giddy Creature, as Shakespeare said somewhere.
But I’ve got a couple of answers.
- I’ll never take drugs. My apologies to all my drug-partaking peers here, but I don’t think I’m ever even going to get drunk: I’m too much of a control freak about myself.
- I’ll never have kids. I’ve left it too late.
- I’ll never bungie jump. That’s OK. I never wanted to. Acrophobia.
… That’s all I got!
The Quora Hekkaidethatheon
Nick Nicholas’ answer to If famous writers on Quora were Greek gods, who would they be?
Wherein I enumerated my favourite Quorans as Greek Gods.
Alfredo Perozo pointed out in comments:
I feel this would make a nice cartoon… just saying.
https://www.quora.com/If-famous-…
Finally done. I was going to do a fancy cartoon with layers and a tablet, but this came out eventually, instead.
I’ll provide transliterations from the bottom clockwise. I added myself in after Dimitra Triantafyllidou’s answer and Edward Conway’s answer.
- Hekkaidekatheon [Sixteen Gods] of Qora
- Gyps [vulture]
- Promētheus Nikolaos Nick Nicholas
- Hēphaistos Masiellos Michael Masiello
- Arēs Skōttos Scott Welch
- Dionysos Michaēlios Michaelis Maus
- Hermēs Habibios Habib Fanny
- Poseidōn Edouardos Edward Conway
- Apollōn Ieremias Jeremy Markeith Thompson
- Zeus Lionellos Lyonel Perabo
- Hēra Dēmētra Dimitra Triantafyllidou
- Athēna Michaēlō McKayla Kennedy
- Dēmētēr Iordanis Jordan Yates
- Bert
- Hestia Geraldinē Gigi J Wolf
- Aphroditē Maria Mary C. Gignilliat
- Artemis Klarissa Clarissa Lohr
- Persephonē Pega Pegah Esmaili
- Kerberos
- Hāidēs Jer Jay Liu
If Santa had Quora, what questions would he ask?
Didn’t I already answer this?
Oh. I didn’t: Nick Nicholas’ answer to If Satan had Quora, what questions would he ask?
- Why is my name so close to Satan? Am I Satan? Does OP think I’m Satan?
- I mean, I’m dressed in red, and my reindeer have horns…
- Am I St Nicholas?
- Am I St Basil of Caesarea?
- Am I the Christ Child?
- Am I related to the Three Wise Men?
- Am I Jólnir, aka Odin? (Have a Merry Viking Christmas – Wild Eyed Southern Celt)
- Do I owe Coca Cola royalties?
- What is NORAD?
- Why is NORAD tracking me?
- Are NORAD going to shoot me out of the sky?
- How can I best stop a reindeer’s nose from glowing while flying?
- What is the weather like in Rovaniemi in July?
- Where exactly do I live? The North Pole, Drøbak, Uummannaq, Tomteboda, or Rovaniemi? (Santa Claus : Home – Wikipedia)
- If I live on the North Pole, am I actually Canadian?
On 23 December 2008, Jason Kenney, Canada’s minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, formally awarded Canadian citizenship status to Santa Claus. “The Government of Canada wishes Santa the very best in his Christmas Eve duties and wants to let him know that, as a Canadian citizen, he has the automatic right to re-enter Canada once his trip around the world is complete,” Kenney said in an official statement.
- Is Justin Trudeau still permitting me to reenter the North Pole?
- Do I have to be extra polite and apologetic now as a Canadian?
- Who was Virginia anyway? (Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus – Wikipedia)
- Why are there no chimneys around any more?
- How did I ever fit in the chimneys?
- What do you mean, Odin used to enter through chimneys and fire holes on the solstice? Wikipedia says “citation needed”.
- Is there still time for me to go surfing after Christmas in Australia? What’s the weather like in Bondi Beach?
- Why do Calvinists hate me?
- Why do Christian Scientists hate me?
- Why do communists hate me?
- Why do child psychologists hate me?
- OK, OK, geez! Some child psychologists.
- Survey Question: Have you been naughty or nice?
Which Indian states are well known in other countries?
I live in Australia, and I have not taken an especial interest in the states of India.
So. Data point. States I’ve heard of.
- Assam. Because tea. (Also, in my case, because I know a linguist that worked on Assamese languages.)
- Goa. Because Portuguese colony. And something to do with hippies.
- Gujarat. Because, um, major ethnic group.
- Kashmir. Because fabric, and flashpoint with Pakistan.
- Kerala. Because communists, and very good education.
- (I’ve heard of Nagaland, and I honestly don’t know why. Probably because of that Assam linguist.)
- Punjab. Because, um, major ethnic group.
- Rajasthan. Because tourist attractions.
- Tamil Nadu. Because Tamils.
- West Bengal. Because, um, major ethnic group.
If Satan had Quora, what questions would he ask?
- Michael Masiello: what are your views on theodicy? (“Fuck you” is not an adequate answer)
- Am I also Shaytan?
- Am I also Kali?
- Am I also Angra Mainyu?
- Am I also the Demiurge?
- If God is Good is He also God? If God is God is He also Good?
- Should pronouns referring to Satan be capitalised?
- Why do I get to have all the good tunes?
- Is The Devil Went Down To Georgia really a good tune?
- Seriously?
- If I’m meant to have all the good tunes, what explains the albums of Anton LaVey?
- How can I revive Manichaeanism?
- How can I distance my brand from Alisteir Crowley’s?
- Are the Rolling Stones still writing good songs?
- How about those South Park guys?
What are some stereotypes of the different Australian states?
Some stereotypes are to listed here: Aaron O’Connell’s answer to What are some cultural differences between the states of Australia?
Here’s mine:
- South Australians: more prim, more English. Boringest state capital city ever.
- New South Welshmen: enemies to the Victorians. Sydneysiders: Uncouth, arrogant.
- Victorians: enemies to the New South Welshmen. Melburnians: Stuck-up hipsters, arrogant.
- Tasmanians: inbred, farmers.
- Queenslanders: reactionary, Deep North, insane.
- Northern Territory: Crocodile Dundee.
- Western Australia: Nouveau riche miners. Don’t want to be in the same country as the rest of us.
- Australian Capital Territory: Public servants. Boringest national capital city ever.
Be honest: what do you think of when you hear “white people”?
Oh, zut, Habib le toubib:
- European-Americans
- Oh, and Europeans as well, I guess
- White Aussies? Ok, I’ll give you them too
- The bizarre American notion that white people are uncool and bland
- Hegemony
- Racial purity
- American demographics at war with each other
- White privilege
- Oppression Bingo
- Oppression
- Plantations
- One drop rules
- Melanin
- Social constructs
- “Surely you don’t mean me, O Lord?”
Be honest, what do you think of when you hear “black people”?
Ah, Michael, Michael, Michael…
I see this has become a random word association task, and that it has spawned Be honest: what do you think of when you hear “white people”?
OK. Let’s see where this takes me.
- African-Americans.
- Not Africans. Not Jamaicans. Not Australian Aboriginals. If I see a Somali in town (our second-last refugee intake in Australia), I don’t think “black people”, I think “damn those Somalis are tall.”
- Negative media portrayals
- Being scared while in the hood in Memphis (correlated)
- Civil rights struggle
- All that awesome music. All of it.
- I know too few black people, offline or on
- The ones I have met were all awesome
- Including here
- Should really get around to reading more Langston Hughes one day
- Maya Angelou does not seem to be a good poet
- I keep thinking I’m going to be subconsciously racist around blacks
- Maybe I am, but I don’t think I’ve allowed anything to get out 🙂
- I need to know a LOT more about Frederick Douglass
Well, that was my stream of consciousness…
Be honest: what do you think of when you hear “Asians”?
Habib, you’re on a roll here, aren’t you!
- Confucian virtues
- Industry
- Most people I hanged out with at high school. And undergrad.
- Spicy food
- East Asians, Not South Asians; I’m from Australia, not the UK
- East Asians, Not West Asians. Does anyone even say “West Asians”?
- East Asians, Not North Asians. People definitely don’t call Siberians North Asians.
- East Asians, Not Central Asians. Huh. It really is all about extended Sinosphere, isn’t it.
- South East Asians. Kinda sorta extended Sinosphere.
- My neighbours’ parents, who yell too loud in Chinese at their kid.
- My urbane Taiwanese psychologist friend, and his darling kids.
- Lots of cultures with venerable history, that I know too little about.
Are Mornington Peninsula towns considered suburbs of Melbourne and are they a part of the greater city of Melbourne?
There is a mental barrier for me, as a longtime resident of Melbourne: Melbourne ends at Mt Eliza. The mental barrier is to do with continuous buildings: there is a break in construction just south of Frankston, and there is empty land between Mt Eliza and Mornington (even if it is roughly 5 km).
The break in coverage of the metropolitan railway is another such construct: there is empty land between Dandenong and Pakenham (though not for long), but I think of Pakenham as part of Melbourne, because the train ends there.
There are people that commute into Melbourne CBD from the Mornington Peninsula, and for that matter from Geelong; but I would stick with the continuous building criterion. You are right that Melbourne has uncommon urban sprawl; and Sydney’s is worse. But I would think of Melbourne still as having a 50 km radius, not 100 km.