So, do we get the answers so we know how wrong we all are? -- rillaspins

Jay has now answered the poll himself, and he knows himself better than anyone. Therefore...

1. JMaynard has been... in newspapers, on (broadcast) radio., on television, on the web, on Usenet, in court, to testify, uncomfortably close to phosgene gas, right all along. He has not been on the silver screen, on tri-D, on ARPAnet, on BITnet, on top of Old Smoky, or to Utah.

While the Tron Guy bit takes care of radio, TV, and most newspaper, it's not the only thing. He was quoted in the New York Times in the 1990s regarding his interest in Animaniacs. Being involved with the internet he was on Usenet and the web for some time, though his involvement was not so early that it included ARPAnet or BITnet. Despite desires to visit howardtayler he has not been to Utah. After an incident involving EMS/Paramedic activity he was in court to testify. And in one job there were site visits to a chemical plant where there was a 'water curtain' that was the barrier between the safe(r) area and a process that did use phosgene.


2. JMaynard's hobbies include... ham radio, computery stuff, flying small airplanes, target shooting, and attending renaissance fair(e)s. They do not include horseback riding, flying model airplanes, hanggliding, motorcycling, ice fishing (dry or otherwise), skiing, snowmobiling, building aircraft carriers, or violating the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.

Why settle for models when you can fly the real thing? Also, there is a significant difference between watching a plane fly and controlling it and being at the controls and feeling their effects directly. As he grew up in Houston, TX, he avoids outdoor cold weather activities. Motorcycling is out due to seeing what can happen to motorcyclists. 'Donorcycle' is a common paramedic name for motorcycles. Horseback riding was never much of an interest nor was there much opportunity for it. It's hardly a necessary skill in Houston. Building aircraft carriers would be a decidedly impractical hobby and violating the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle would be quite a feat.

3. JMaynard is... also known as the Tron Guy, a diabetic, a pilot, a furry, a former EMT/Paramedic, mostly harmless, a friend to those who have no friends, an enemy to those who make him an enemy, just zis guy, you know?, an Animaniacs fan, a Monty Python fan. He is not adiabatic, qualified to dismantle nuclear warheads, a NASCAR fan, an oscillating fan, nor is he trying to take over the world.

He is perhaps known to most as the Tron Guy, though it's curious to see how many of the 'youtube generation' believe that was a youtube thing rather than something that started elsewhere and others migrated to youtube. This is perhaps the first time he has indicated he considers himself a furry, which surprised me some. I was amused by all the positive responses, including his own, to the "a friend to those who have no friends, an enemy to those who make him an enemy" which I swiped from the Boston Blackie radio show. He finds NASCAR to be dull. It's just cars going around and around - or crashing. And he's seen enough crashes or the results thereof from his time as a paramedic. If you can't tell that he's an Animaniacs fan, you really haven't been paying much attention.


4. JMaynard drinks... unsweetened iced tea, Diet Coke with Lime, Negra Modelo, Baltika #6, Port, Bloody Marys, Coffee. He does not drink, or at least avoids as much as possible, sweetened iced tea, Diet Pepsi, Diet Caffeine-Free Mountain Dew, Miller Lite. Starboard is of course a gag to with Port, the blood of his enemies was another gag and the very idea of carrot juice make him gag. Sherry has never really been tried.

His primary drink is Diet Coke with Lime, with coffee being perhaps the next most common. For strong drink, the Bloody Mary seems the most common though its frequency is rather rare. He prefers beers that are not the typical mass-produced American stuff thus will on occasion have a Negra Modelo with a Mexican meal, or an even darker brew such as a stout or porter - like Baltika #6.

5. JMaynard lives in... Minnesota, Texas, a house, reality - which many refuse to acknowledge. He doesn't live in California, Iowa, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Freedonia, Narnia, Middle Earth, all of us, the shadow dimensions, a steam-driven starship, or a yellow submarine. Of those, a move to Californis seems the least likely.

His residence, which is a house, is in Minnesota and he owns some property in Texas. Both of these places are in reality. Well, mostly in reality. Austin, TX and St. Paul, MN seem to have only vague linkage with reality at times.

6. JMaynard drives a(n)... Lexus RX350.

He used to drive a Lexus RX300 and has driven my Corolla at times. He once had the misfortune of owning a Ford Explorer, and has had both a Prius and a Hummer (well, an H3 anyway - a ruined Trailblazer) as rentals. The H3 was not very impressive and the Prius was in need of greater cargo space. He has never driven a team of horses.

7. JMaynard is registered as a(n)... voter.

Minnesota does not require a party affiliation for voter registration.

Q: Under relativistic (not Newtonian) gravitational theory, does everything still suck?

Newtonian (Classical) physics is really a subset of Einsteinian (Relativistic) physics, but there is some difference in the theory. Newton simply described what happened, but did not really explain how it happened. From Relativity comes the idea that matter bends or warps space-time. It has even been said that the idea of empty space is nonsense as without any matter in it, space is undefined. In a sense, matter creates space.

The result is that matter does not itself suck, but it creates a warped space-time that makes it seem like it does. The difference hardly matters as the effect is the same: gravity works.

1. How many?

So far, seven.

2. Can cartoon characters watch us on their TVs the same way we watch them on ours?

No, they can only see into (and out of) their own cartoon TVs.

3. [This was answered in an earlier, locked, post.]

4. Why not a palomino look or mustang?

I like chestnut more as a color. While palomino is nice, I don't care to appear too blond or golden-boy. In the character design, size was a consideration as I didn't want to get too big, which is very easy for a centaur. Starting with even a moderately sized horse makes for a very tall centaur. I eventually settled on the Fell pony as a general starting point as I liked the overall look and description of demeanor.

5. What's a silly question?

These, evidently. Of, if you prefer:

"If the square of the hypotenuse is the sum of the squares of the other two sides, why is a mouse when it spins?" -- Dr. Who

6. Say there, monstrosity, do you know the times?

I am aware of the Times of London, the LA Times, the NY Times, the Chicago Sun-Times and even the Capitol Times, but I have yet to see Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times.

7. Which is new?

While the all the Times could be considered old, the newspapers are new almost every day.

Q: Are you going to Phar's wedding?

I was planning on it, assuming it was in the U.S. rather than in Australia. I'm not sure of all the details. I only just realized that it has been tentatively scheduled for July 1. I forgot about that when I suggested a time to jmaynard for a visit to Yellowstone. It's all far enough in the future for us that changes can be made. It's just annoying that I forgot about that bit of timing and potential conflict.

Q: How much cold hard cash would it cost to get you and jmaynard to re-enact a scene from Tron?
A: You couldn't afford it.

Q: What do you love about renaissance festivals, from a patron's perspective?

A: I had started to write a long(er) answer about a bunch of specific things but realized that they all added up to about the same thing: a feeling of inclusion and participation.

It's not just street interaction, though that can easily be a big part of things. It's the feeling that I'm in on things, I suppose. There is some involvement, but it generally isn't pushy (I do dislike stage acts that badger an audience member into getting on stage - and dislike them more if they then proceed to do things at the audience member's expense). When things are right, there's the feeling of being in on the joke or similar. It feels like I'm not just watching, even when it really is that I'm just watching, if that makes any sense. It's also not overly demanding. There's no feeling of "You must..." which is the feeling I often get from things. A renaissance festival is more, "Hey, we're having a party, care to join us?" Or at least that's what I think it should be. I've been to some lesser renfests where that feeling and attitude was quite prominent and though the festival was small, I had a great time. I've been to more successful renfests (as judged by both the till and longevity, which are of course related) where that feeling was faded or fading and found I wasn't having (as) much fun.

Yesterday's post asked which did not belong:

                    _______
                   |   |   |
                   | 1 | 2 |
                   |___|___|
                   |   |   |
                   | 3 | 4 |
                   |___|___|

And I admitted that there was likely more than one answer.

First, it's not the box, boxes, a line, or lines. Those are simply the closest I could easily manage with text to show the divided-into-fourths picture.

I had not thought of the number of pen-strokes needed to write the characters, which would result in 4 being the oddball. But as the comments show, that is not a sure thing.

I had thought of the factorability argument: Only 4 can be factored into primes that do not include itself. That may seem a bit weaselly, but it does avoid the argument over if 1 is considered or defined to be prime.

Strangely, I hadn't thought of the sequence 1, 2, 4 with each being double the previous digit, thus making 3 the oddball.

I have to admit to a bit of obfuscation, as I listed the numbers as 1, 2, 3, and 4 rather than as one, two, three, and four. Granted, the same arguments for distinction would apply. But perhaps a linguistic idea rather than a mathematical idea would be a bit more likely.

As I had originally thought of this, the unique number was three. Why? Because the names of other numbers have homonyms, at least in english. One has won. Two has to and too. Four has for and fore. But three is just three. Not that this answer is any more valid than the others.

Q: Raisins in cole slaw. Good or bad? Discuss.

A: Raisins in cole slaw are an abomination. They ruin the flavor of the slaw and even removing the raisins doesn't help as the flavor that doesn't belong remains. Cole slaw should be a bit tart with vinegar, or maybe slightly - not overly - creamy for the creamy style. Raisins seem to make the slaw somewhat sweet which is just plain wrong.

Raisins are fine by themselves and maybe in some cereals, but in general raisins, like nuts, do not belong in other foods. Many an otherwise good bread or cinamon roll is ruined by the inclusion of raisins, just as brownies are too often contaminutted.

Q: What is your attraction to Ren Faire?

A: A mix of things, I think. By now, it's something of a sense of inclusion in addition to the acts and such. For the faires I go to now it's partly to see the acts and partly to see my friends. It doesn't hurt that there's more than a bit of overlap there. Also, the various acts make it a bit like a variety show, but with more than one thing going on, I can "play editor" to my own script and see what I want - or at least try to.

My first faire was the Minnesota Renaissance Festival which is one of the bigger ones. My sister asked if I'd like to go and so I went, mainly just curious. I'm not sure I went the next year, but I did go back to MnRF eventually. It was largely just a diversion after WB stopped making and airing good cartoons. That and I got curious after going a couple weekends one year. Once to check things out, and again for Taurmania - or maybe the Taurmania group went the first weekend. After that, I went to see what all there was and it was something to do. Somewhere in here I decided it was time to dress the part, or at least close to it.

The next year was Taurmania II a bit to my surprise. Another trip to MnRF was planned for that and it was the first year jmaynard and I went in garb. I went the first weekend and it was the hottest in some time - but I found I was surprisingly comfortable, which is unusual. I don't like heat all that much. I went back several times, partly to relay messages for bronxelf_ag001.

I had thought about going to a faire in the Spring that year but didn't check on things until too late. I skipped the Iowa Renaissance Festival that year partly for its distance and also for the message relaying. But there was Wybreg in October. There I first encountered the Washer Well Wenches and JP and also Danza Mystique. It didn't hurt that I also met an Icelandic pony there. Wybreg was small, a "soft site" (no permanent structures, for those wondering) and very different from MnRF. At first I felt I might have wasted a lot of time and money to be there. Then I started to experience it and instead of being just a customer or just a member of an audience, something clicked. I've liked the smaller faires ever since.

I still go to MnRF, and after The Pub web board on At The Faire took off, I began to know a few more folks there as well. I've been to the Texas Renaissance Festival and it is quite impressive. Even there, it was nice how Jay knew a few folks, or they knew him.

But looking it all over, I find I prefer the smaller faires (at least if they're done reasonably well - I have had the misfortune to blunder into one that was a misfire) which seem to be friendlier and more inclusive or have more interaction. Of course, knowing people at the smaller faire I go to helps quite a bit, too. But even Rosenthorne last year where I started out not really knowing anyone holds up to what I've found. There's more "give-a-damn" and not as much of a "gimme-your-money-NEXT!" feeling at the smaller faires.

I should say that generally the performers and most vendors at larger faires act just like those at a smaller faires. The larger faire setting itself seems to throw things off. Then maybe it's that my one big faire is MnRF which might not be the best example.

If you submit three answers, I will endeavor to find three questions for them. If you like, post this same idea to your own journal. If you don't like, then don't.