Another Interests Meme

[omorka]

1. Pick one thing from my interests list that you like, and explain why.
2. Pick one thing from my interests list that surprises you, and explain why.
3. Pick one thing from my interests list that you don't understand, and I'll tell you about it.
4. Tell me one thing that's not on my interests list that you think I might want to add, and why.

Comments

[altamira16.livejournal.com]

1) I like conspiracy theories. It is fun to stare at things really hard and find patterns.

2) Dancing surprises me because I like to think of you as a statue of the Thinker, and there is too much motion in dancing for that mental image to apply.

3) Otherkin?

4) Optical Illusions. We seem to have a lot of interests that overlap, and the only thing that seems relevant that you do not have is optical illusions.

[omorka.livejournal.com]

2) - Heh. Kinesthetic is actually my secondary learning mode. However, since I am a largely sedentary individual, you're not the only one who's been surprised by this.

3) - A quickie definition for those who aren't familiar with the term: Otherkin are people who have what might be termed fantasy body dysmorphic disorder. In the same way that a transsexual person feels that they are in a body of the wrong gender, otherkin feel that they are in a body of the wrong species, where that species (unlike a furry or a therianthrope) exists only in the realm of myth, legend, and story. Most people who post on otherkin message boards are bored fourteen-year-olds who think they're elves, but there are a few of us who merely have phantom limb sensations for limbs that humans cannot possibly have (in my case, wings, horns, a much longer neck, talons, and a tail). Unlike many of the people who are quite serious about being otherkin, for me it's sort of a mental game, a way of thinking about my draconicity without taking it too seriously.

4) Not a visual enough person to find these terribly interesting; sorry. I like the sorts of wordplay that are the verbal/auditory equivalent . . .

[memeslayer.livejournal.com]

1. I like hypercubes, and hypershapes in general. Mathematically, they're so simple, but I want to be able to visualize them too!

2. Physics surprises me. I remember you saying at one point that you don't grok it very well.

3. Logos?

4. Debate. You do it and talk about it enough, and it a *terrible* pun. ;-)

[omorka.livejournal.com]

1) Remind me to try and play 4-D Tic-Tac-Toe with you sometime (bassfingers and I have played a couple of games over e-mail, but he consistently beats me).

2) I have a very, very good abstract/mathematical understanding of physics (at least, up through what's covered on the AP Physics C exam, and a smattering of modern/particle/relativistic physics). I enjoy it as a subject very much. However, my visual/spatial understanding of physics is cruddy. I can deal with fields point by point, but I can't visualize the whole thing worth crap.

3) The complement of mythos. Logos is logical, deductive understanding and explanation, of the type that underlies science but is expressed through words. Mythos is metaphorical, inductive understanding.

4) He's got a swelled enough head already. ;-)

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

1. Gemstones -- being a maker of jewelry myself, that needs little explanation. Although really, the interest in gems & minerals came first; I often say to people that I came to jewelry-making sort of thru the back door. I think it's my personal expression of the magpie instinct, like Jeremy: "Ooh, a SPARKLY!" (I have the same kind of reaction to colored glass bits like Pente stones, and to glittery or transparent dice.)

2. Honestly, nothing on the list surprised me. There are several things that I don't immediately recognize, but that's not the same thing.

3. "Lager rhythms"? Since I know you well enough to assume that it's not a misspelling of "logorithms"...

4. Given some of the things you've posted from time to time, I would have expected to see some variation on "size acceptance" in your list.

[omorka.livejournal.com]

3) The Lager Rhythms are a local a capella band that have traditionally been made up of people associated with Rice - grad students, alumni, former emplyees, bartenders at Valhalla, etc. greeneyes_rpi is a current member; follybard and arenson9 are former members. As you might be able to guess, the stage patter runs to odd and somewhat intellectual puns.

4) I'd put it on there if there were a general widely accepted term for it.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

Take a look at firecat's list -- she's an activist in that area, and probably has all the commonly-used terms listed.

[kansas-dave.livejournal.com]

1. Gosh. I like a lot of things on your list. I'll pick math. I love the moment of comprehension when I arrive at a nice proof to a theorem.

2. 'trout fishing in america' is a surprise.

3. Please explain your interest in conspiracy theory. Are you a believer? a skeptic? a scoffer? something else?

4. Juffo-wup

[omorka.livejournal.com]

2) Why? Are you familiar with the band?

3) A, B, and D, to varying degrees. Conspiracy theories are fun, and building plausible ones is a highly enjoyable intellectual game. And while I haven't yet found a conspiracy theory that I think is a full, accurate description for what's going on, it does appear quite often as if there are strong threads of truth woven through the crazy quilt.

Plus, dropping random bits of conspiracy theory on my kids is highly amusing.