Month: January 2017

Of course, my list won’t match others’ lists, because our Quora feeds really do not overlap.

Here’s my pentekaidekatheon (15 gods, to let in Dionysus and Hades and Persephone).

• Zeus: Lyonel Perabo. The guy is a Greek god, isn’t he? Just ask his wife!
• Hera: Dimitra Triantafyllidou. She is, after all, my Nemesis. Mostly in a good way!
• Poseidon: Edward Conway. Because he… you know, Edward, I’m not sure why. Because you’re as gentle as the lapping sea, I guess. Apparently you have stormy waters too, but they’re in topics I’ve muted.
• Demeter: Jordan Yates. Because she’s blonde. And hopefully she likes cereal.
• Athena: McKayla Kennedy. For her quiet, unobtrusive wisdom.
• Apollo: Jeremy Markeith Thompson. For the zen chillness: a truly Apollonian virtue.
• Artemis: Clarissa Lohr. Because her profile pic has her with a Nerf gun. And because she hunts down justice.
• Ares: Scott Welch. The Scourge of Olympus.
• Aphrodite: Mary C. Gignilliat. Like there was any doubt.
• Hephaestus: Michael Masiello. Oh, he was going to get Zeus or Athena, but I decided Hephaestus suited his dark humour better…
• Hermes: Habib Fanny. He’s quicksilver, that guy.
• Hestia: Gigi J Wolf. There must be some connection between the Goddess of the Hearth and a former Air Hostess.
• Dionysus: Michaelis Maus. Because he’s got the whole Dionysian Nihilism thing going on.
• Persephone: weird chthonic deity, who curses men and is caught up with strange rituals? Obviously Pegah Esmaili.
• Hades: Jimmy Liu, who presides over the permabanned in the underworld. NO I AM NOT OVER IT!!!

Other answers are correct that it is not up to the OP to consider a question answered and closed. There is however a mechanism to capture consensus on the question, which could be used that way: the Answer Wiki for each question.

• 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?

I answered a related, and since deleted question, and squirrelled the answer away here:

What are some aspects of famous Quorans that you dislike? (DELETED QUESTION) by Nick Nicholas on The Insurgency:

There are frequent recurring complaints about Tier #1 writers, those with follower counts in the tens or hundreds of thousands. They are why I make a point of not following them, and have limited interaction with them. They are not intrinsic personality flaws: they are partly Quora Celebrities being the victims of their success (overloaded in Quora traffic), and partly Quora Celebrities being the victims of being the kinds of personalities that end up being followed by hundreds of thousands.

When one of the earliest of the following happens:

• Quora goes broke
• I get banned
• I decide it takes up too much of my life
• It stops being fun

Probabilities and timeframes:

• Quora goes broke: 5 yrs, 70%
• I get banned: 2 yrs, 30% (no BNBRs yet, but the more popular you get, the likelier it gets)
• I decide it takes up too much of my life: 1 yr, 30%
• It stops being fun: 30 yrs, 5%

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.

First thing I do every morning is spend at least a half hour replying to comments in my notifications. I’ll comment on answers I read during the day, when something strikes my fancy; maybe a dozen a day? Maybe 20? I should count some time.

I use Quora sociably. Not to the exclusion of my intellectualising, and often as a supplement for my intellectualising—I often have quite good intellectual to-and-fro. I also have lots of good banter. Commenting is a core part of my Quora experience. And not just mine.

I was the OP of the first of these questions, to make a point: we should not criticise Americans for not knowing the geography of places they are not that involved in.

I am now so, so screwed:

Was I even remotely close?

• Nagaland: misplaced by two states
• Assam: Yes!
• Uttar Pradesh: misplaced by two states.
• Rajasthan: Yes!
• Tami Nadu: Yes!
• Kerala: misplaced by three states.
• (West) Bengal: misplaced by one state.
• Come on, why didn’t I get Kashmir? I think I wasn’t sure whether it was a state or not.
• I didn’t even know Lakshadweep (the islands to the southwest) was a territory. (Not a state though.)

Not… great. Sorry, India.

What Christine Leigh Langtree said: Vote #1 Christine Leigh Langtree’s answer to Do Australians cringe when non-native English speakers attempt to learn the Australian accent?

I’ll add that most dialect speakers dislike their accent being mimicked, not just Australians; I know I resented the hell out of 1960s Greek comedies’ bad imitation of Cretan. If you don’t get it right, it does come across as mockery.

BUT for non-native speakers… we make a lot of allowances, because we know it’s not mockery. The accent will gradually come naturally anyway. And the less self-conscious you are about it, the more readily it will happen. We have met IRL, Miguel, and your accent is still mostly US/Philippines—but not completely!

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?”