I am honestly interested

If you could lock any two people from history in a room indefinitely until they came to some sort of understanding, what two people would you choose?

I ask because it bothers me that every philosopher has been attacking Rene Descartes since the 17th century and he doesn’t have a chance of defending himself.  Granted, he would probably lose a debate with just about any philosopher since Newton, but at least it’d be a fair fight.

So I guess my question is in two parts:  who would you choose and how long do you think it would take for them to agree?  Assume they live forever and you’re choosing them at the prime of their life.

(Side prompt:  What if you chould choose three?)

Last Year: Why Pentaceratops is more awesomer than Triceratops
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It’s a state, I swear!

I get in trouble all the time whenever anyone asks me where I’m from. “New Mexico,” I say. “Ahh, Mexico!” they say. “I love South America! Have you ever been to the Leaning Tower of Pisa?”

I should rephrase. I get in trouble whenever anyone with a piss-poor grasp of geography asks me where I’m from.

The reason for this is that I feel the answer of ‘New Mexico’ says something different than ‘America’ in a way that adds value.  Of course, I might be the only person that thinks that.

I think that when you say where you’re from, the ideal is to convey the most true information possible that is somehow relevant to the listener.

So if an Englishman says he’s from London, it means something.  If he says he’s from New Brungenstenshire, but was raised in South Smarsburg, then I really can’t bring myself to care.

Compare this to specifying locations that change nothing.  A guy from São Paolo is no different in my mind than a guy from general Brazil.  I know São Paolo exists, but I have no impressions about it that help answer things in any way.

Let’s go back to the United States.  New York City specifies something.  Namely, a person from a large, metropolitan city.  It would be wrong to generalize a New Yorker in a statement about Americans, because the New Yorker has had a different experience than other Americans.  Perphaps they are more metropolitan or cultured, perhaps they are more rugged and world-worn.

Saying you are from Texas will also add something: that you are a fat cowboy who wears big hats and likes to hunt.  This might be wrong, but it at least adds information that saying you are just American would not.

Alabama, Chicago, L.A., Seattle, Utah, and a few other places are like that.

For some reason, I assume New Mexico is too.  Perhaps I’m hoping for a hint of the internationalness of the word ‘Mexico’ that is in the name.  Or perhaps that’s because nobody knows a New Mexican, so I can make up my own story about it.  Whatever it is, I should really stop doing that, because I think I just confused the shit out of my new Turkish roommate.

Last Year: Here's another idea!
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Can you say Eurotrip?

Dear World,

I am going to Europe! Now, I’ve never been, so I don’t want to hear any disparaging remarks from all of you people with silver spoons in your mouths (whether this is a recent acquisition or a congenital defect).

Specifically, I’m going to Ireland for the Alasdair MacIntyre Conference. It should be a pretty awesome conference, but after I go to a few of the events, I’m pretty much on my own.

The two guys I’m traveling with are going to Amsterdam then Barcelona before they finally turn around and go back home. I’m planning on joining them for Barcelona, but I’m just not into Amsterdam: I don’t do drugs and I don’t think I’d get much pleasure out of the company of prostitutes.

So I’m looking for a third place. The three ideas I’ve had are London, Paris, and Rome. I’m trying to learn French, so it would seem that Paris would be the way to go, but I’m ambivalent on that as well.  London seems like I’m not trying hard enough to visit foreign lands, but that’s no reason not to go.  Rome is cool, but since it’s farther away, it’ll end up being more expensive.

So I have no idea.

What do you guys think? Any ideas?

Last Year: Which grade did you skip again?
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I’m rewriting my novel, what do you think?

“Little Mary walked to school one day. She stopped to pick up a pretty daisy for a moment, sniffed it, and continued skipping on her way. “La, la, laaa, la, la-la, la laaa!” She sang.

There was a shadow ahead of her and Little Mary paused in her tracks. “Mr. Bunny!” Mary giggled and ran after Mr. Bunny. She ran over a nearby hill covered in shamrocks.

Can you say shamrocks? Sh- aahhh- mmm- rahh- ks. That’s right!

Then, of course, a giant rock landed on top of her and splattered her to death in a terrible, terrible way.”

—Old Iroquois saying

Last Year: All Hail Patient Joseph, the Step Father of Jesus
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2009

Happy New Year All!

1. Write a novel
2. Write another hundred or so microfictitious stories
3. Ride my bike more often
4. Keep a continuous log of the works you’re reading/have read.
6. Move somewhere cheaper and closer OR get a roommate.
7. Get all A’s.
8. Get a paper accepted at a conference or (cross my fingers) for publication.
9. Write something in philosophy of biology.
10. Solve a crime OR commit one.
11. Transition my life from ‘drama’ to ‘comedy’ without passing ‘tragedy’ or
12. Work on updating the site.
13. Upload everything I worked on from high school onward.
14. Create group blog and see it take off.
15. Not lose more than $200 unnecessarily.
16. Get a camera, laptop, or wacom tablet.
17. Plan ahead, stop being late, but don’t start caring in the process.
18. ________________  You guys fill in the blank.  If anything gets three or more votes, I’ll resolve to do it this year. 

Sound good?

Last Year: 2007 pt. 2, 2008
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