tGC AMA with Sugar Free

ancapailldorcha

Sugar Free is up next!

D'Agger

What's your most prized posession?

Have you travelled much and what has been your favourite destination?

Favourite historical figure?

Wibbs

Fave flic

Pawwed Rig

Ever been to a boards beers?

Sugar Free

Glad someone got rid of the tumbleweed :pac:

D'Agger wrote: »

What's your most prized posession?

Probably my books, which I keep in my parents' house and refuse to let them throw out. There are few, if any, literary classics in there but they remind me of times spent reading them and are a good reflection of my changing mindset over the years.

D'Agger wrote: »

Have you travelled much and what has been your favourite destination?

Less than some, more than others. I never did the 6-24 month travelling the world thing (with or without the obligatory Aussie stop off) but I've gone somewhere I've found interesting almost every year for the last while.

I'd say Vietnam for the culture shock and fascinating modern history or New Zealand for the sheer beauty of it would be my top picks. I'm spending some time in South America later this year so I may change my mind afterwards!

D'Agger wrote: »

Favourite historical figure?

Not sure I have a favourite but I find several leaders from the WWI and WWII era to be quite interesting.

Sugar Free

Wibbs wrote: »

Fave flic

I'm not a big movie goer or watcher but I quite liked Into The Wild. Other than that I'd just watch stereotypical macho, easy-watching stuff like Black Hawk Down or Sicario, which were both on recently.

Sugar Free

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

Ever been to a boards beers?

A college one many years ago (probably 2005/2006) by design and a regular one by chance a few years later when I was slightly worse for wear. Almost certainly wore the ear off a couple of people, one of which I think is a mod here lol. I'd have to see him to confirm though and even then I couldn't be 100% certain!

Nowadays though I value the faceless and relative anonymity of boards...contrary to volunteering to do this AMA.

Alf Veedersane

What is your favourite humming noise?

What is your favourite buke?

Sugar Free

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

What is your favourite humming noise

Anyone once I'm not stuck with Fr. Purcell!

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

What is your favourite buke?

Hmm, like before I probably couldn't pick one but off the top of my head here are ones I really enjoyed:

1984 & Animal Farm - George Orwell. Read them while in secondary school and it was probably my first being exposed to such foresight and cynicism.

Forgotten Soldier - Guy Sajer. I think a few people have question the authenticity of some of this, particularly one retired U.S. Officer but it's a great read nonetheless, albeit desperately sad.

House to House - David Bellavia. Gritty but gripping account of the second battle for Fallujah.

Killing Pablo (before it was cool to read :pac:) - Mark Bowden.

Generation Kill & One Bullet Away - Evan Wright & Nathaniel Fick respectively. I've included them together as they cover the same broad event. It was fascinating (and rare) to get two different first person perspectives of specific events.

The Rise and Fall of Stuey Ungar - Can't remember who right now.
Bringing Down The House (infinitely better than the screen adaptation) - Ben Mezrich.

Anyone Can Do it - Duncan Bannatyne. Great read as a story, not so much on the entrepreneurship side imo and as a person he seems...less than pleasant!

No Way Down - Forget Who
K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain - Ed Viesturs. I don't know anything about mountaineering but he has to be one of the least know but most impressive athletes around.

Known and Unknown - Donald Rumsfeld! Not a lot of real introspection but whatever your opinions on the man, he's a lot to talk about.

Not one for novels really beyond my teens, as you can probably tell!

Alf Veedersane

You get to invite 4 non-family members to dinner (and boozing) - who do you invite?

Pat Mustard

Why did you choose the username Sugar Free?

Sugar Free

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

You get to invite 4 non-family members to dinner (and boozing) - who do you invite?

Assuming dead people can be brought back to life...

Unsure whether to focus on balance and have people who will possibly talk to each other or just to be selfish and have a disjointed dinner where I corner them to ask all the questions I wanted.

- The woman Jessica Thomson from this case https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamam_Shud_case or just the guy himself.

- Whoever D.B. Cooper was.

- Aforementioned Ed Viesturs.

- Pootie (Putin)

Sugar Free

Pat Mustard wrote: »

Why did you choose the username Sugar Free?

Choosing a new user name after the 2010 hack* (although I had another user name first) and was thinking about weaning myself off full-sugar soft drinks.

*I've been around since 2004

HalloweenJack

Do you have a favourite unsolved mystery?

Hellrazer

No Way Down - Forget Who--Graham Bowley I think
K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain - Ed Viesturs. I don't know anything about mountaineering but he has to be one of the least know but most impressive athletes around.

Probably 2 of my favourite books aswell.

So my question is :

Would you ever consider climbing a huge mountain?
If youre anything like me then somedays I find it hard to climb anything more than 2 flights of stairs but have always said if I had the money I would climb Everest.

Sugar Free

HalloweenJack wrote: »

Do you have a favourite unsolved mystery?

Probably the two I referenced above as well as the Dyatlov Pass. I typically have no time for conspiracy theories but a lot of explanations put forward don't fully explain some of the injuries or other aspects of what happened to them.

Sugar Free

Hellrazer wrote: »

Probably 2 of my favourite books aswell.

So my question is :

Would you ever consider climbing a huge mountain?
If youre anything like me then somedays I find it hard to climb anything more than 2 flights of stairs but have always said if I had the money I would climb Everest.

As much as they intrigue me, I don't think I would ever commit to a Himalayan or Karakoram expedition. Even if money wasn't a factor, time dedicated to training, time taken for the expedition itself, impact on my career, risk of leaving people close to me without me (cocky or wha' :pac:) a.k.a. death and the fact the mere suggestion of it would leave me single in record time would deter me from ever pursuing it seriously.

That said I'll be moving to a very mountainous country soon so I'm going to do my best to embrace the outdoor culture there, so who knows in a few years!

HalloweenJack

Sugar Free wrote: »

Probably the two I referenced above as well as the Dyatlov Pass. I typically have no time for conspiracy theories but a lot of explanations put forward don't fully explain some of the injuries or other aspects of what happened to them.

Dyatov Pass is tragic but some kind of experiment gone wrong-type scenario wouldn't surprise me.

I doubt D.B. Cooper survived after the parachute jump.

Taman Shud is the one that leaves me completely clueless.

Any ideas of your own?

Sugar Free

HalloweenJack wrote: »

Dyatov Pass is tragic but some kind of experiment gone wrong-type scenario wouldn't surprise me.

I doubt D.B. Cooper survived after the parachute jump.

Taman Shud is the one that leaves me completely clueless.

Any ideas of your own?

It could well be but who knows with the Soviet Union at that time.

Agree also on D.B. Cooper.

With the last one it's clear he worked for someone's intelligence service but what his message meant, who it was meant for, why he was killed, how he was killed, where the woman comes into it etc. makes it very interesting.

Mr Bloat

I would like to ask the same question of each of the AMA contributors. Can you:

*Read a map
*Wire a plug
* Cook at least one decent meal from scratch (pouring boiled water into a Pot Noodle doesn't count)
*Sew a button
*Hang a shelf
*Change a tyre
*Change a nappy
*Whistle with your fingers
*Jump start a car

Sugar Free

Mr Bloat wrote: »

I would like to ask the same question of each of the AMA contributors. Can you:

*Read a map
*Wire a plug
* Cook at least one decent meal from scratch (pouring boiled water into a Pot Noodle doesn't count)
*Sew a button
*Hang a shelf
*Change a tyre
*Change a nappy
*Whistle with your fingers
*Jump start a car

All the manly man things you mean to prove we're not mammy's boys?

- Depends what you mean by read a map but generally yes and I can combine it with compass readings so I've some semblance of where I'm going were I out in the hills. Would probably struggle in that scenario were it night-time however.

- Yes I know how but haven't done it in years.

- Yes I can cook meals from scratch.

- Can sew a button but if it's on a good coat/jacket where the thread ends are inside a layer of fabric or overlay, I prefer to bring it to a tailor rather than risk poorly removing stitches from fabric in an effort to make it look the same.

- Not sure what you mean specifically but probably not if it required drills, filler, spirit levels etc.

- Yes I can change a tyre.

- I'm not a father, grandfather, godfather, uncle or otherwise around young babies often so I've zero interest in cleaning their putrid, liquid green/yellow sh*t! I'll learn when I need to.

- Lol no I just end up spitting everywhere if I try to whistle that way.

- Yes to jump starting.

Assuming all questions were weighted equally, does a score of 67% get me a pass? :P