some Sunday stealing

 Roger did it, so I'll do it, too. (Had to copy and paste from his site, can't get the questions on the originating site....)

-If you could witness any event from history, what would it be?

Ah man, I don't know. Something that was cool and good - maybe the Wright Brothers getting the plane to work, or the first successful radio transmission?

-What do you think about conspiracy theories?

I'm trained as a scientist so I follow something called Ockham's (or Occam's) Razor, which means I don't give them any credence unless they are the simplest explanation fitting all the data, and they NEVER are

-Do you like cartoons? Do you have /had a favorite one?

Yes, I watch mostly cartoons! Of the very recent ones (though I don't know if it's been picked up for a new season), I liked "The Ghost and Molly McGee," which in its own weird way pays a tiny bit of homage to the old cartoon version of "Beetlejuice" (which was much cuter and more kid-friendly than the movie it was based on). I also like a few "grown up" cartoons - Bob's Burgers is my favorite, but I like the "classic" Simpsons as well. 

Too many things now I might watch are on various streaming services, and I don't currently feel like (nor can I really afford) to pay for.

-What did you most dislike in school times?

The bullies, the mean girls, the kids who ostracized other kids for being weird or poor or socially awkward. The social milieu of my K-8 was pretty terrible, I realize that now.

-How do you think the end of the world will look like?

Ah man, I don't know. I'm guessing it'll be climate change, if it doesn't actually turn out to be an asteroid hitting us or some nuclear-armed nation deciding to start stuff. If you had asked me in Q2 of 2020, I'd have said we'd all die of COVID.

-What sounds are, in your opinion, relaxing? The sound of the sea? Traffic? Vacuum cleaner? Combine harvester on the field? Some kind of music? Birds singing? …

Running water, birdsong, the wind in the trees. Maybe gentle rainfall but not a thunderstorm.

-Which would you take: The well-worn path or the road less traveled?

The road less travelled because it won't be crowded.

-What was the last thing you read?

I just finished "The Color of Magic" (first Discworld book) last night. I enjoyed it.

-What is one thing that has stumped you so hard you won’t ever forget it?

I can't think of something now. Lots of things have stumped me but I often forget them.

-What are you interested in that most people aren’t?

Soil invertebrates. Lots of the topics in my classes, apparently.

-What’s something you really resent paying for?

I don't pay for, but I resent it, that expensive scientific journals don't just require the researchers writing for them to sign copyright over to them, they charge hundreds of dollars for annual subscriptions, and hundreds of dollars in "page charges" to publish, and then, if you want to read ONE article that was published 15 years ago and isn't in a JSTOR database you have access to, you can RENT it for 48 hours for $35.

-What did you think was cool when you were young but isn’t cool now?

I am in no way an arbiter of cool. I guess I thought stuff from Hickory Farms and Swiss Colony was "cool" in the sense of seeming to me like "rich people food," but in recent years I've realized their stuff really isn't all that good.

-If you could choose a different time period and place to be born, when and where would it be?

Honestly if I were born much earlier I'd either have died of something like scarlet fever (which I had at 8) or I'd have wound up either working for very low wages as a governess or schoolmarm, or married off to some guy who might not have been a wonderful husband, so I'm pretty good with being born when and where I was

-Do you think cats have any regrets?

I dunno. I do not presume to understand the feline mind, it works differently to ours.

-What question do you hate answering?

When people want to know why I'm not married. It just didn't happen for me, okay? At this point it's too late; there are good men out there but the ones I've met in my age group are all taken already, or, as they say "bat for the other team."