The Pentaquizinoid!

[swestrup]

As promised earlier, here are 5 semi-random questions for _sps_ to answer, with no attached meta-obligations.

1. You've done a bit of travelling. What place that you've visited was LEAST like you expected it to be?
2. Future biotechnology promises to, at the very least, cure the world of physical afflictions, and yet people such as Michael J. Fox claim that he never would have been as good a person if he hadn't contracted Parkinson's disease and Stephen Hawking says that without his disease, he never would have amounted to much. Will making everyone be healthy deprive humanity of its greatest assets, and could this have a net negative effect on the world?
3. You watch very little TV these days. Was this always true of you, or was there some defining moment in which you gave up the idiot box?
4. Imagine for a moment that one of your projects were to be wildly successful, so that, while you might still design things, you never had to implement anything again, to ensure it saw the light of day. What would you do?
   
5. On alternative days you tell me how far ahead of Canada the UK is in things like social reform, and how far behind it is in things like privacy and labor laws. So, I must admit to some confusion as to your feelings for the place. Do you think that, on the whole, the UK is becoming a better or a worse place, and would you consider living there, if your salary was such that living expenses aren't a problem.

For bonus points, all answers should be submitted in the form of rhymed couplets, with each couplet using all of the letters of the alphabet. :-)