I seldom code outside of work these days. The physical (not mental) strain is too great, on my back, shoulders, hands, arms, and eyes. So from seven to eleven hours a day, five days a week. However, I'm weak in the face of temptation, and often do hack 4-6 hours in a given weekend, which I'm trying to stop.
For me, it is a constant, iterative process. I don't drop into the "refactor mode" you described (except when writing docs, which I prefer to do in spurts, because newer code can be volatile), but instead habitually make little improvements to the codebase as a whole. So, similar to your description, I have a perpetual obsession with eliminating duplication and boilerplate from my code. The only parts that are "off limits" in my mind are bits that I know are being edited heavily by other developers, but I'm not shy about touching someone else's code otherwise, provided the tests pass.
Yea, I think it's all relative. I know people who remember little from before the age of 6, and I find that to be almost disturbing...I remember most everything from 4 onward, and my earliest memory involves me wanting a particular sort of diaper (the pig ones!), so I imagine I was pretty young at the time.
I recall all of my more eventful dreams from that age (and younger, but only back to 5 or 6), and that particular dream was definitely a welcomed shock to my young mind at the time.
> Males report having sexual fantasies earlier in development (average age of onset 11.5 years)
I find that figure to be surprisingly high. My first dream that was definitely sexual was when I was 7 going on 8, in the second grade.
> today’s Internet pornography scene, where zero is left to the imagination.
I disagree. The primary psychological goal of porno seems to be for the viewer to imagine one of the actors as themselves, and/or the other actor(s) as those the viewer knows or sees. The amount of clothing, the level of visual detail, and the nature of the sexual acts performed are merely to cater to the viewer's tastes.
> It seems like over the past few years we've definitively decided on B.C.E. and C.E. instead.
I don't think that is the case. Amongst recently published works of history that I have read (1st ed. books), from some very reputable publishers (Cambridge, Oxford, UC, etc), I have only seen BC/AD in use.