I don’t think that I ever did feel like a kid when I went back to my parents for Christmas. Instead, it felt cloying, cluttered and claustrophobic - and as far as I can tell, it is entirely coincidental that all three of those start with ‘cl’. I felt out of place and constrained and it seemed irrelevant to anything else in my world. Mum and my siblings were all doing their usual things, but I felt in the same stiff, un-natural position that ‘posh’ visitors were always put in back when I was living there as a child. There was a sense that it was all a performance for my benefit - but one that never really convinced.
The closest to me AFAIK is Sealand, but I’d rather not, tbh. I do actually have a passport from Waveland, declared as part of a Greenpeace campaign some years back and based on Rockall, but also not too appealing as a long-term residence.
At one site that I lived and worked on for several years, we discussed declaring unilateral independence on several occasions. It was a shingle spit nature reserve and seemed a promising location, but we never did. Well, not so far.
Overall, the Free Borough of Llanrwst looks a good bet. I have been there and definitely enjoy the area.
This is an idea that has been around for very long time. Plato used the Ring of Gyges to talk about it - which went on to inspire Wells’ The Invisible Man - and influenced Tolkien among others.
When I was unemployed I used to walk waaaay more than I do now - both to get to places and just as a hobby - and I’d hope to do the same when retired, as long as I am fit enough. That’s walking though. Standing in one place is something that I find extremely wearing and have never done when not necessary. As I understand it this is fundamental to the nature of bipeds. To stand still, we constantly need to adjust balance. However, when walking, it is basically a continuous, controlled fall forwards, and takes less energy. For quadrupeds, it is the other way around: they are stable when standing, but require constant effort to walk or run.
I probably spend most of my reading time horizontal rather than sitting, but if I am reading when vertical then, again, it will be walking - or pacing around - rather than standing. I would seem really weird to simply stand there and read.
I would say that kindness is an expression (not the only one) of empathy. Some degree of empathy is present in the overwhelming majority of people - barring extreme sociopathic conditions and an absence of mirror neurones. So for most people I would say that it is innate to some extent.
Even in cases where empathy is not present, kindness can be simulated or faked and some people with strong sociopathic conditions have proven to be very good at this when it suits their purposes - so I certainly say something with the appearance of kindness can be learned in one form or another.
It can definitely be cultivated - and I would say that this is one of the major qualities in the whole “two wolves” metaphor or, in classical Greek terms, a virtue to be developed.
Depends what you mean by body language. I think that most can recognise basic facial expressions like happiness and fear before they can talk, and understand things like pointing and reaching for things to express interest etc.