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On Sat, 24 Oct 2009 19:45:12 UTC Ben answered the Proust Questionnaire (click on a question to read other answers):

Your most marked characteristic?

An almost neurotic obsession with understanding how others work.

What do you most value in your friends?

Simplicity when time elicits, the capacity to simply have fun without making too much of anything.

What is your principle defect?

Paranoia, distrust of other's motives over trivial matters.

What to your mind would be the greatest of misfortunes?

Reaching the end of your life and realizing you never really knew anyone.

What would you like to be?

Unconcerned with elaborate notions of the past.

What is your favorite color?

Cool colors have more appeal to me -- especially hues of green and blue.

What is your favorite flower?

Sunflower.

What is your favorite bird?

Crows.

Who are your favorite prose writers?

Samuel Beckett, Thomas Pynchon, and Murasaki Shikibu.

Who are your favorite poets?

Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, and Li Po.

Who are your heroes in real life?

My parents and some of my friends' parents (Tom, Wendy, Kit & Bob, et al.)

Who are your favorite heroines of history?

Eleanor Roosevelt and Elizabeth I

What are your favorite names?

I don't give names much thought as compared to the person.

What is it you most dislike?

Insincerity.

What historical figures do you most despise?

Those who waged holy wars.

What event in military history do you most admire?

I don't find anything admirable in war.

What natural gift would you most like to possess?

Empathy.

How would you like to die?

Quickly, without any pain, and all of a sudden in my old age; a stroke, perhaps?

What is your present state of mind?

Concerned about the rain, tired, in need of a shower.

What is your motto?

I have no mottos that govern my actions. I simply do.

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