Back in September 2003, long before I joined the Friday Five, I noticed friends doing it. I even answered a question, ages ago, and then saved it to my drafts and left it. I saw this on my friend Adam’s site, a violently executed plan blog, and I figured that in the 20 minutes before my next class, to the sound of a classroom of men singing what sounds like some sort of religious sea shanty across the hall. “A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, design a building, conn a …

In a blast of highschool gossipy mood, I submitted the Friday Five question that came up this week: Please tell us about five people you liked, or who liked you, but with whom you never became involved. Explain why not. This shouldn’t be too hard. Maybe that’s why I wrote the question, in fact; I knew it would be very easy to answer. But you know, in thinking about this topic, after I thought about the really big hurts, I realized that there were plenty of other times when I could have, but did not, get involved with someone for …

Last week’s Friday Five was a question I posed, rather unintelligibly: Our world is one in which many fully-literate citizens can be expected to know much more about entertainers than about the politicians who they’re told represent them in government. It’s easy for intellectual types like us Friday Fivers to dismiss pop stars, of course, but surely some of them interest us. What about living celebrities from the world of entertainment—meaning music, film, or television, but not including the world of the printed word except for those stars whose celebrity, though having originated in writing, has transcended this niche to …

In this week’s Friday Five, Dan asked: You’ve been sent out to scout for potential colony worlds. It turns out that Earth-like bodies (whether full planets or moons) are surprisingly common, or at least easy to access given the Super-Ion Warpification Doodad. Plus, terraforming has become remarkably easy given the real success of our own Project Genesis. (See this Wikipedia entry for Star Trek reference.) So, most or all of the practical issues of selecting a world (e.g. nitrogen oxygen atmosphere, water, etc.) have been rendered moot. All that’s left is aesthetics. What five things are you looking for in …

This week, Dan asked: It has become the norm these days to name American wars, not as wars, but as operations. We’ve had everything from Operation Desert Storm to Operation Just Cause and most recently Operation Iraqi Freedom. Methinks someone is paying a bit too much attention to the suits from marketing… either that, or not enough — I mean, really… “Operation Iraqi Freedom”… who thought up that name? As such, you, Mr/Ms Marketroid have been given the authority to launch five small(ish) wars, but only if you can convince the execs that the market will buy it. So, what …

Dan asked this week’s Friday 5 question: With the recent unveiling of famed Watergate source “Deep Throat”, a great mysterious chapter of journalism has been closed. However, you now have the chance to leak some incredible secrets to a young, new reporter. What would those five secrets be, and what would your code name be for each of them? Well, since I don’t know any really big secrets, I shall have to make all of this up. Wink. Monsanto’s Plot Against The World Food Supply. Do you have any idea what they’re doing to the world food supply? You need …