Memage from lynn_maudlin

[alitalf]

Questions from lynn_maudlin.

1: Would you rather have great artistic ability (music, art, writing) or mind-bogglingly brilliant ability as a scientist?

If I could be unlimitedly good at electronic engineering, I already have both. I firmly believe that engineering is both an art and a science.
To give a more responsive answer, if I could help solve some of the world's serious practical problems using science, I doubt that I could be persuasive enough to get the solutions adopted widely. Great ability as a writer (in addition) might help there, but if it is a choice of one or the other - well you know I don't like choices that close off the other path. I almost chose art, by 51% to 49%, partly because I am more skilled at the scientific side of life and would like to know what an alternative is like, and partly because great artists maybe have more outlet for sociability in between bouts of creative work. In the end, I chose science, because there are some major practical problems that science could solve, and on a personal note I feel less insecure for having an idea, and sometimes accurate knowledge, of how most of the tech around me works, and the ability to use, configure, and even repair most of it.

2: What one thing would you change about your body?

I think it would have to be no more backache or sciatica - which seem to be part of the same cause-effect chain. If that was impossible, I would be torn between perfect eyesight, perfect teeth, my left knee no longer hurting, or my right ankle no longer hurting (and the causative injuries being fixed). All these are too close to call. If you're talking about appearance, well I think that being a bit overweight is my worst characteristic, so I'd fix that with no dieting, and maybe have slightly improved health in the bargain.

3: What "superpower" would you select, if you could choose one?

Invulnerability to injury or disease, no contest. If it has to be something active, I'd like to be able to fly. Who wouldn't?

4: Is there any sport at which you would like to excel more than skiing?

No. I'm not very interested in sport as such and competitive sport normally leaves me unmoved. I'm just not competitive to any great extent. I like to do well, and comparing my performance to that of other people is a useful way of judging that, but that is about as far as it goes for me.
Superficially skiing is an exhilarating activity, which gives me some much-needed exercise, and an incentive to do at least the minimum to aviod total unfitness during the rest of the year. I feel a lot less inept on a pair of skis than I do in a pair of trainers.
In addition, skiing is perhaps as close as I ever get to meditation in some respects. Although most of the time I am thinking, planning, and maybe worrying about practical aspects of life that I am responsible for, I find that it is possible to avoid this while skiing. In fact, I did find that if I don't just let my whole consciousness engage with skiing, I can sometimes, as a direct result, fall over and look like an idiot. Modern psychological technique; canalisation of the cortex through pain association.
If I couldn't ski, I'd skate more often than once every few years. I can skate OK on ice, but rollerblading looks both fun and scary. On ice I stop by turning the blades sideways and digging them in, and stopping on, as the saying goes, a dime. I think that with rollerblades, because there is no sideways slippage, that would be a good way to break a leg, and several other parts of the body.

5: What is your favorite food - and how much of it can you eat before you get sick of it?

Whoa, there are so many foods to choose from, that are my favourite some of the time. I can't choose, I want them all!
One of the biggest treats, though that might be because I don't get it very often, is sashimi. I really like both sushi and sashimi, and an ideal Japanese meal would include some of each. Maybe this evening. If "favourite food" could be widened to include that, then I could live on it for a long time before I got bored. However, a single food - I'd be bored fairly quickly. Maybe fish balls such as we used to eat at Lester's Yulemoot would keep me interested longer than most things. OR, maybe roast venison.

The Instructions:

1. Leave me a comment saying anything random--like your favorite kind of sandwich or something you remember from long ago or something you bet I didn't know. Something random. Whatever you like.
2. I respond by asking you five personal questions so I can get to know you better.
3. You will update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and offer to ask someone else in the post.
5. It will go on and on and on and that is what makes it a meme!