The Interview Meme, part n of m.

[mangosteen]

This is, by far, my most favorite recurring meme. palmwiz had questions. I have answers.


1. You're a New Yorker. What do you most miss about the City, living up here in Boston?

The biggest one? That I'm not in a major city anymore. Well-known? Yeah. Prominent? Sure. Major? Not really. Theatrical shows don't make it here first. Weird international chains that want to try a test store don't put one here. Cheap international non-stops to Europe are harder to find. I feel like I'm "next door to the center of it all".

I miss truly comprehensive public transit. I miss rail services that aren't just "4-trains-in, 4-trains-out" commuter services (or simulacra thereof). I miss express subway trains.

I miss the speed. I miss that constant feeling of being just a little bit more awake than the rest of the US. I miss the constant movement. I miss the microcosm-ness of NYC. NYC... a market of 8 million people with lives and tastes that are particular enough that you can market products that are only useful to them, and the math could still work out.

I miss all of those things, and I'm not even close to done. The things that I don't miss is proabably a much smaller list, but they're all much bigger things, and anyone who is a NYC expat in Boston could probably tell you what they are.


2. You're visiting Japan, and you have room in your luggage to bring home exactly one Japan-only electronic gadget. What do you choose?

Oh, man. No idea. All the cool phones only work on their networks, and even if it was GSM, it wouldn't work with my provider anyway. They're also still into the MiniDisc thing, which I find as inscrutable as I find it useless. So. Hm. Cameras. Definitely. I want the smallest, strongest, spluftiest digital camera I can find, and I'm gathering that Japan would be the place to find it.

No specifics, though as I've never been to Japan. This will change.


3. Which do you prefer to help you run your evil empire, minions or robots?

At first blush, robots certainly sound much more appealing, but you get into scalability issues pretty quickly. I may be an Evil Overlord, but I'm not omniscient. Minions allow for scalability through distributed intution, and their emergent behavior has better documentation. In addition, organizations have dealt with mitigating the unpleasant effects of treachery for time immemorial.


4. You're given retroactive veto power over any one bill passed at some point in US history. What law do you erase?

My first thought was "the DMCA", but really, it would be any law that legislated profitability and reduced risk for an industry that didn't need incentive. Similarly, the most recent "bankruptcy reform" bill that passed, which will do nothing for the consumer... even the moralizing ones who think that financial crises only happen to bad people (and it would never happen to them).

The PATRIOT Act will get dismantled under its own weight, as abuses of it come to light (i.e. the recent National Security Letter abuse), and people stop believing the "our hands are tied" strawman. This is already beginning to happen. After all, giving an incompetent carpenter a Hole Hawg just means that they'll break their bones faster.


5. A venture capitalist approaches you with $5 million on good terms. What would your startup do?

I actually have (what I think is) a good idea. Remind me to tell you the next time I see you in person.


You know the drill. Comment that you want some questions. I'll come up with five questions, and then you should answer them in your own journal.
If you've commented in the past on previous iterations of this meme, and I haven't given you five questions, and you still want some, comment again.

Comments

[tisiphone.livejournal.com]

I want some questions!
(It's interesting to note the variations of this meme: "ask me questions and I'll answer them", "ask me and I'll ask you questions, and then you answer them", and so on.)

[water-childe.livejournal.com]

Questions, please!

[tla]

I am in a question-collecting phase. Shoot.

[mangosteen]

1. What do you think is the most subtle-yet-all-pervading difference between living in the US and the UK?

2. What (if any) observations and realizations did you take away from your time at Akamai?

3. B-Movie. New Year's. You coming?

4. What personal skill would you develop if you knew you could not fail?

5a. A while ago, _nicolai_ related to you an incident between me and an Eritrean, and me making an incorrect guess about language. According to _nicolai_, you mentioned that that was perfectly mangosteen. If you recall this, could you elaborate?

5b. (if the answer to 5a is "What are you on about?") Pin-ups or art nudes?

[docorion.livejournal.com]

First, "Minions...emergent behavior has better documentation." made me laugh out loud.

Second, sure, bring it; send me some questions, if you'd like.

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

I miss the speed. I miss that constant feeling of being just a little bit more awake than the rest of the US. I miss the constant movement.

Part of why you like my Vegas writings?

As for that #5, the friend who visited me this weekend asked what I'd do if I won the lottery. I replied simply that I'd buy a house in Boston, and buy my daughter a flute (she's currently renting). I asked what he'd do... and he unveiled a grand ten-year plan for opening a series of Middle Eastern dance studios and funding research into traditional dance and the Ottoman Empire.

I clearly need to work on grander plans.

And I would like questions!

[mangosteen]

Part of why you like my Vegas writings?

Yeah, at least partially, although IMO the buzz is different.

NYC = Get up in the morning with a bagel and FIVE GALLONS OF COFFEE, ready to MEET THE DAY and BEAT THE EVER LIVING CRAP OUT OF IT.

Vegas = Up all night, working on your eighth Vodka and Red Bull, staying up because you're afraid to come down.

But now, questions:

1. Sex. Something you do, or something you are? Show your work.

2. What personal skill would you develop if you knew you could not fail?

3. I know that you are Jewish by birth, but don't really practice. That being said, is there any particular part of your personal ethics that has been shaped by Judaism?

4. How did you end up in the City of Las Vegas in the first place? More importantly, how did you end up in Vegas(tm) in the first place?

5. To my view, Atlanta is "Los Angeles, with less culture, more traffic, and crappier weather." Does Atlanta have any redeeming qualities?

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

2. Clarification: must I choose only one?

5. Answer: No.

1. is going to end up being a huge post...

[mangosteen]

re Q2: You can choose only one.

re Q5: Okay. Figured. Just checking.

re Q1: Well, yes. :)

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

Re re Q5: I moved here for Adam... Atlanta's sole saving grace for me is that it's not Florida. But that's me-specific, not in-general.

ok, i give in to the meme

[geoffroi.livejournal.com]

hit me...

[lizzielizzie.livejournal.com]

hi! questions? answers!

[mangosteen]

1. What do you think was the hardest part of starting your own business?

2. What skill(s) did you unexpectedly pick up on the fly, having started your own business?

3. What goop(s) do you use to keep your hair in check?

4. You could transplant your domicile anywhere in the continental US, along with a teleporter to get you to work (but nowhere else). Where do you put it?

5. Coffee or tea? What kind(s)?

[dchenes.livejournal.com]

Got questions? I got answers. It remains to be seen whether the answers have anything to do with the questions. (And no, I have not suddenly gone and got a job in tech support.)

[skreeky]

Actually, a surprising number of shows premiere here quietly before their "real" runs on Broadway, usually with the Huntington company. Of course, that is precisely *because* we are not THE city. We just tell them whether they've got it right yet, and send them on their way. =) We do find it somewhat unfortunate that the Huntington insists on casting almost entirely out of New York though, instead of using more local talent.

Oh, and questions, please. I've not been interviewed yet at all.

[deguspice.livejournal.com]

I saw "A Chorus Line" in Boston before it made it's NY debut, but it wasn't at the Huntington.

[skreeky]

Yeh, "Suessical" premiered here too, at one of the large theatres... but unlike "Chorus Line," I consider that an unfortunate event. It did get terrible reviews and I hear that the version they handed to NYC was heavily revised. But it didn't help much. Cringeful show, and I say that as someone who had a dear friend playing the "Mayor of Whoville" in the touring cast I saw... *shudder*

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

I'd love some questions!

[meirion.livejournal.com]

yes please to the questions!

-m-

[mangosteen]

1. What would you do with the following amounts of money?
a. GBP 3 million. No restrictions.
b. GBP 15 million. No restrictions.
c. GBP 30,000. Must be spent relatively evenly on three completely unrelated things.

2. What personal skill would you develop if you knew you could not fail? You can choose only one.

3a. What about Structural Engineering "does it" for you?
3b. 50 words or less. "The essence of Engineering is....."

4. Who do you want to be when you grow up?

5. Is there any particular aspect of life that you think British people "get" more than other people in the Western World?

[drwex]

I have a couple more days of open free time, so question me if you like.

[mangosteen]

1. When did you have the first inkling that you'd end up going "all the way" to a Ph.D.?

2. What would you do with the following amounts of money?
a. $5 million. No restrictions.
b. $25 million. No restrictions.
c. $5,000. Must be spent on three completely unrelated things.

3. What is the appeal of World Of Warcraft for you?

4. You could transplant your house anywhere in the continental US, along with a teleporter to get you to work (but nowhere else). Where do you put the house?

5. Pin-ups or art nudes?