أعلى 10 الإجابات على أسئلتك Top 10 Answers To Your Questions

Around a week ago we had a post that
allowed you all to submit your questions to me via email on any topic of
interest. Fortunately for me, most were about me and the site so they
are fairly easy to answer. This is the first response post. There will
obviously be a number of questions that I won’t answer in this post –
some because I simply refuse to answer them (for personal / privacy
reasons) and some because they are not the types of questions that would
interest the majority of our readers. So, on with the Q&A.1Question 1




/scales-tm.jpg?w=400&h=152" style="width: 400;height: 152" border="0" alt=""/>
Q. What is your favorite list?
A. Top
10 Incredible Sound Illusions
I had hours of fun showing friends and flatmates the sounds for this
list while I was writing it up. It is the only list that I have spent
hours on – going back to it to try the sounds out again and again.
Second to this list, my favorite would be the incredible recordings.
2Question 2




/200px-bookoflists.jpg?w=200&h=350" style="width: 200;height: 350" border="0" alt=""/>
Q. What inspired you to start this site?
A. The
Book of Lists
I was visiting my brother one day (kiwiboi), and he had a copy of the
Book of Lists. I was flipping through the pages and really enjoying it
– so I went home and bought myself a copy. I became absorbed by all
the interesting lists and thought it would make a great website. By the
end of that week I had registered this domain and launched the site!
[EDIT: Kiwiboi just sent me an email from 2 months before the site
started in which HE suggested a list based site - so we should all thank
for him planting the seed!]3Question 3




Q. Where do you get your ideas?
A. My head
/ideas-tm.jpg?w=249&h=350" style="width: 249;height: 350" border="0" alt=""/>
At the outset, I wrote all my lists based on subjects that had
interested me in the past – so I was working within a limited set of
topics (bizarre stuff, music, etc). As time went on and I exhausted my
little brain’s supply of ideas, I started regularly checking my RSS
feeds for more ideas. Around the same time (fortunately) people started
to send in their own suggestions, so I have had a LOT of help and
inspiration from that.4Question 4




/picture-1-28-tm.jpg?w=400&h=182" style="width: 400;height: 182" border="0" alt=""/>
Q. Will the site be changing?
A. Yes and No
This was quite a long question asked by jesse. This is the entire
question:

am i ever going to come to listverse and see that you
arent so friendly to your guests via message boards, are you planning on
making big changes with list verse for example you need to be a member
to post (you shouldn’t thats one of the coolest things about the site)

First off, I hope I never get to a point that I am not friendly to
everyone here! I love working on the site, reading the comments, and
(as often as possible) commenting. If I got to the point where I was no
longer enjoying it and becoming rude, I will give the site to Randall
(just kidding – he asked if he could have it so I am teasing him –
haha).
For the second part, yes – the site will be changing. I have
approached a web development company about implementing everything I
want to see on the site. The cost is $20,000 US so it is not going to
happen until I can raise the money. Out of interest, you may want to
know some of the features I have asked for:
1. Nested comments (reply to a comment, not just the whole list)
2. User profiles with inbox, favorites, and lots of other profile
related stuff
3. Comment voting (with the ability to hide based on the vote number, or
based on the user – ignore)
4. Single username for forums and main site, as well as uniform
appearance
I have also specified that people MUST be allowed to comment without
registering.5Question 5





Q. Do you do any martial arts?
A. No – but I used to
At present I don’t do any martial arts, but I did study Ninjutsu for a
while some years ago. I was studying at a Bujinkan Dojo in New
Zealand. The Bujinkan Dojos were started by Masaaki Hatsumi and, unlike
many “ninja” training schools, you do not earn belts (though it is a
graded system), you do not enter competitions, and you do not wear
masks! There is a big emphasis on stealth and deception, as well as
weaponry training (which includes modern weaponry) and focuses on uses
your environment to your advantage. Something else which is quite
unique to the system is the fact that you are taught to escape if you
can (to avoid fighting) – but if not, to break bones or kill the
opponent to ensure your safety and the safety of those you are
protecting. Some practices are regarded as “dishonorable” by other
martial artists and styles, but the Bujinkan system favors survival over
“honor”. It is an excellent training system and I would strongly
recommend it to anyone. You can see some of the moves demonstrated by
Masaaki Hatsumi in the clip above.




Question 6




/code-tm.jpg?w=380&h=295" style="width: 380;height: 295" border="0" alt=""/>
Q. What is your day job?
A. I don’t have one
I currently don’t have a job – I completed my last contract about 1
month ago and have not bothered to get another job as I am going home to
New Zealand in a month. I have worked professionally in two fields:
opera (as a singer), and IT (as a software developer). Up until now I
have been working as a developer. The programming language I use
primarily is Delphi, but I have sufficient knowledge of C, Java, and C#
as well. I am also moderately okay with PHP but it is fairly to me.
I have used PHP to make coding changes to this site – I am improving
all the time.7Question 7




/hang-tm.jpg?w=400&h=186" style="width: 400;height: 186" border="0" alt=""/>
Q. Which list is your least favorite?
A. Top 10
common methods of suicide
The reason this is my least favorite list is that it has been a
constant pain in the butt. When I first published it, a lot of people
complained (and emailed to complain). In addition, the comments became
so infantile that I had to close them (twice!) The only reason the list
is still on the site is because it is the most searched for page on the
site (from Google) and I hope the warnings at the bottom (with phone
numbers etc.) will be of use to someone who needs them. [Image made by Kevin
Chapman]8Question 8




/jiwok-shopping-list.jpg?w=400&h=300" style="width: 400;height: 300" border="0" alt=""/>
Q. Do you use lists in your daily life?
A. I do
Every week I write a list of meals for the next 7 days. Then I write
a list of what I need to buy for those meals and that is the basis of
my shopping list. Then when I need to cook (if I am cooking for a lot
of people), I write a list of times to begin each stage of the cooking
process. I also like to use todo lists when I have a big project I am
working on.9Question 9




/800px-akhenaten-nefertiti-and-their-children-tm.jpg?w=400&h=300" style="width: 400;height: 300" border="0" alt=""/>
Q. Can you name 5 people you would like to meet?
A. I can – and will
The other part of this question was: Two living. Two dead. One
fictional. Here are my choices:
1. Pharaoh Akhenaten
– I find his story fascinating and would love to have met him – not
necessarily to talk to him, just to see what he looked like and how he
lived and ruled in Egypt. That would also give me an opportunity to see
his wife Nefertiti and decide whether she really WAS the most beautiful
woman in the world.
2. William
Burroughs – Burroughs is one of my favorite writers and I would love
to have met him while he was alive. He is the author of Naked Lunch. I
own almost all of his books.
3. Steve Jobs – I
am an Apple fan – I do all my work on a Mac (even my Windows
development) and I even travelled to San Francisco last year to attend
the MacWorld Keynote speech. I own lots of Apple hardware and my prize
possession is my iPhone! I would love to meet the man behind it all.
4. Joseph Ratzinger
– He is, of course, now known as Pope Benedict XVI, but I would like to
have met him before he became Pope. He is currently doing a lot of
very interesting stuff in the Catholic Church; when he was head of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith (Office of Inquisition) he was
much more free to discuss his ideas – I would be very interested to know
where he is going with all of his recent changes.
5. John
Galt – Galt is the central character (though he doesn’t appear
until near the middle of the book) of Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand.
Atlas Shrugged is one of my favorite books, and John Galt is the
philosophical glue that binds it together. I would love to meet him.10Question 10




/brateastonellis3cc2-tm.jpg?w=400&h=268" style="width: 400;height: 268" border="0" alt=""/>
Q. If you could pick an author to write about you
who would it be?
A. Brett Easton Ellis (pictured above)
I am a BIG fan of Brett Easton Ellis (author of American Psycho, The
Rules of Attraction, and other book). I like his style of writing and I
enjoy the topics he writes on (usually lifestyles of the privileged and
lazy). I would like him to write the book on me because I would want
the book to be fictional – though I would like to be a character in the
book with my own personality traits exaggerated (wow – this is a really
self-indulgent question/answer!) The question had a second part which is
“what would the title be”? This is really tough to answer because his
titles are not often obvious. I think I will let you all decide what
the title should be!
In closing this list, thanks to everyone who sent in questions – I
had a really difficult time deciding which questions to answer AND
trying to answer. I hope you all like my choices and I hope you don’t
mind such a personal list!
Finally, I am going on holiday at the end of the week (for 5 days) –
if anyone has a half finished list they planned to submit – please do it
now as it will help to reduce my load during the holiday.