Playing the accordion is one of my dreams. You lucky sod.

I would probably not have the confidence to publish something under my real name, at least at first. Depending on the reaction to the first book, if a second one ever appeared that might make it out under my real name.

Google did everything right here, but I wonder if they will use this to adapt their algorithms somewhat.

Perhaps they just need to get a big red sign saying STOP RIGHT THERE to pop up when someone is coming up too close behind them.

Mark 14 as told by the naked man. I would dig that.

I haven't seen it, and I'm not sure I'll bother to be honest.

Haha, I wish! No, it's a different David Mitchell.

I recently read Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, because it has very good reviews.

It wasn't actually very good. It smacked of someone trying to be clever but not actually being very clever at all. It wasn't a terrible read but I wouldn't really recommend it.

I think a large part of my dissatisfaction with reddit was that I am getting older but the average redditor is getting younger. That and the culture of outrage and anger that you mention just don't make it such a nice place to be any more. If you find yourself holding the "wrong" opinion (or you have the "right" opinion but your words are misinterpreted), forget any discussion - let's go straight to the downvotes and death threats.

Don't get me wrong, there is still some good stuff there. But it's swamped by a toxic ocean of shitposting as everyone tries to outfunny, outmeme, and outvitriol each other.

I enjoy learning new things so I play quite a few instruments: guitar, piano, clarinet, tin whistle, fife, and harmonica. Unfortunately I don't have the time or commitment to truly devote myself to them (I only really practice at weekends, and have only been playing a few years anyway) so I'm not very good at any of them, but making music still makes me happy, even if it's only at a basic level.

Thanks for that! I will definitely give it a listen as soon I can access a proper computer again (probably tomorrow).

Similarly on Reddit (yes, I am one of them...): a lot of users seem to believe that looking at someone's past comments on their userpage is somehow stalking or "creepy". I have literally seen people say "I didn't give you permission to look through my comments history."

Perhaps this is all because of Facebook and its sectional privacy settings. Maybe a lot of people who start out on Facebook assume that because there they can publish things that only their close friends or family will see, the same will apply elsewhere.

Mongolian throat folk songs I have heard, Mongolian throat metal I have heard, but Mongolian throat rap? This I need to hear!

This didn't happen to me directly, but my father used to be a genealogist (researching people's family histories for them). As a child, I remember on more than one occasion when the whole house was woken by the phone ringing in the early hours with some poor woman on the other end asking for a gynocologist. The perils of reading the phone book at 4am!