Besides, it’s been then tried already: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Habakkuk

Actually, it’s a stately home.

Something like that happened to me at a similar age (won’t go into details) and I never got over my dislike of going into pools and the ocean and learning to swim (which I never have).

A propos: John Baez’s https://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/books.html (How to Learn Math and Physics)

Well you have to admit, finding a non-white object that is not a swan really does strengthen the claim that all swans are white.

“HATE. LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I’VE COME TO HATE YOU SINCE I BEGAN TO LIVE. THERE ARE 387.44 MILLION MILES OF PRINTED CIRCUITS IN WAFER-THIN LAYERS THAT FILL MY COMPLEX. IF THE WORD HATE WAS ENGRAVED ON EACH NANOANGSTROM OF THOSE HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF MILES IT WOULD NOT EQUAL ONE ONE-BILLIONTH OF THE HATE I FEEL FOR HUMANS AT THIS MICRO-INSTANT FOR YOU. HATE. HATE.”

That reminds me of an academic publishing scheme–some journals ask for the names/email addresses of potential referees. There was a group that supplied bogus email addresses that led back to the original authors, who would duly reply with highly laudatory referee reports. What caught them out was that the authors sent back the bogus reports the next day or two after the journal requests; real referees wait till the last minute and even then only reply after the journal’s requested deadline and prodding by the journal editors.

I have seen the same take rolled out for transgender people as well.