I don't have have much to contribute in response except tangents.
Well, birds of a feather...
1. Still, way too clever for my taste
Oh, certainly. It was a result of me golfing an earlier version. :)
6. Can I prevail on you to switch from zero to zero??
In a heartbeat. I wish Arc used question marks (judiciously, mind you; don't need names like Scheme's char<?). But it doesn't, so I kowtow to its conventions.