---
title: Five Questions, September
date: 250925
category: phlog
---

1. If you had the ability to compete in the Olympics, what event
   would you want to compete in?

   Competition and I don't play nicely, but I've always admired
   the winter Olympics Curling event.  Never tried it, myself,
   but I suspected that, unlike so many sports that require pre-
   ternatural dedication and built-in genetic gifts, one could
   get pretty close to Olympic-caliber at Curling in a relative-
   ly short amount of time.  Again, I am likely *very* ignorant
   to the intense training regimen Olympic Curlers go through,
   but it seems fun and achievable.  I love to set myself up for
   success.

2. Growing up, what was your favorite comic strip?

   I was a loyal Calvin & Hobbes kid, but I feel like the one I 
   loved as a child that still presses all of the same buttons is
   The Far Side.  There's something timeless about them aside 
   from childhood nostalgia, and I regularly get a kick out of 
   thinking about Cow Tools.

3. Have you dreamed of flying, falling, run--I'm going to stop 
   you there.

   Regrettably, I almost never remember my dreams.  I'm certain I
   have experienced each of these in a dream at some point, but I
   have nothing vivid to report.  Most of my memorable dreams are
   simply about travel: going somewhere interesting with people I
   enjoy.  Could be worse!

4. Do you believe in an afterlife?

   No, but I have a little fear about what it will be like when
   my brain decides to start flipping off switches at the very
   end.  I have a concrete and unfounded worry that it will be
   like being stuck in a static feedback pattern for an unknow-
   able amount of time until entropy.  Yay!

5. Do you have any advice, tips, or tricks for differentiating 
   ignorance from malice?

   Questions and feedback, mostly.  I liked @agk's notion that: 
   "Ignorant people learn.  Malicious people don't."  A step fur-
   ther, malicious people want you to think they're ignorant and
   ignorant people don't know they're ignorant.  All of this em-
   erges in thoughtful conversation.  The malicious among them
   show their hands, and at that point, there's no need to waste
   any more of your time.

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