I'll throw out one additional completely arrogant and elitist suggestion
for the crowd to comment on ~~ I employ a test for people who I do not yet
know well enough, people whose intellectual merit I have not yet
established. (I do recognize that by sharing this, I will flunk somebody
else's intellectual test -- but, hey, the world's a big place and there's a
limit to how many more friends I can fit in my Volkswagon-sized circle of
friend anyway ...)
Here's the suggestion:
IF the unproven individual ever references something seen on television as
some standard for reality, for example, "It was exactly like that episode
of Sienfled where X did ~splat~ ..." --> I immediately mark it down on the
chalkboard in the back of my brain that the individual must say 42 really
smart things before I even consider bothering to reply. (I have been known
to grant exceptions in the case of references to that lost Japanese
submariner who showed up on Gilligan's Island, but that is obviously a very
special case...) I refer to this little heuristic ploy as The Rule of 42.
It seems to work well for me because I can count to about 37 and a half.
Comments? Suggestions? Loud Unsociable Burps?
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