Anyway, "Table Topics" is a thing in the first half of the meeting where folks come up and give a 2-minute impromptu talk on some subject provided to them by the Table Topics Master of the week. I, unable to just do stuff like everybody else, had put together this big "Table Topics Tower" (I thought I'd taken a picture, but I guess not), which had 18 "pockets" in which I'd put the slips of paper with the questions, which I'd loosely categorized into five categories: "Basic Boring Questions", "Fun Stuff, Eh?", "Tongue Twisted Topics", "Uh-Oh ... Science?", and "Asked in a Rhyme".
01 – BASIC BORING QUESTIONS
How often do you see 4:00am? What’s your ideal sleep/wake schedule?
02 – FUN STUFF, EH?
Various Marvel comic books have been made into movies over the past several years, pick two to critique in relations to each other and the source material.(Hint: Superman and Batman are DC characters, not Marvel)
03 – TONGUE TWISTED TOPICS
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked? Extra credit for citing Heisenberg.
04 – UH-OH … SCIENCE?
According to subatomic particle physics, if the nucleus of an atom was the size of a basketball, the orbiting electrons would be a few grains of sand flying around some ten miles away ... if all matter is empty space, what does this tell us about "consensus reality", and why?
05 – ASKED IN A RHYME
Roses to smell, orchids to look, who is the author of your favorite book?
06 – ASKED IN A RHYME
Sushi is raw, churros extrude, where do you go when you crave ethnic food?
07 – ASKED IN A RHYME
Ben-Hur’s a film, Shrek is a movie, what cinema genre do you find the most groovy?
08 - BASIC BORING QUESTIONS
What's your favorite band and/or recording artist, and why?
09 - BASIC BORING QUESTIONS
Aside from the U.S., do you have a favorite country, and why?
10 - UH-OH … SCIENCE?
In 1935's the "Schroedinger's Cat" thought experiment, a very classical domain cat is placed into a state of quantum indeterminacy, do you feel this argues more for a "multiple universe" interpretation or for "consciousness having a formative role in creating reality", and why?
11 - BASIC BORING QUESTIONS
Aside from Hercules, do you have a favorite Greco-Roman myth, and if so, why?
12 - BASIC BORING QUESTIONS
Back in the day, Dick Butkus was known as "Super Crunch", Mike Singletary as "Samurai", what would be a good nickname for Brian Urlacher?
13 - FUN STUFF, EH?
Batman or Superman, which one is cooler, and why?
14 - BASIC BORING QUESTIONS
Living in Chicago, it's often difficult to see stars, but do you have a favorite constellation, and why?
15 - ASKED IN A RHYME
Roses have thorns, a cactus has spikes, is there some plant you especially like
16 - ASKED IN A RHYME
Ochre's a Red, Prussian's a Blue, is there a color that's special to you?
17 - BASIC BORING QUESTIONS
Aside from the Earth, what's your favorite planet, and why?
18 - TONGUE TWISTED TOPICS
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? And, Why? Extra credit for citing Milton Friedman.
Unfortunately, last night also featured the Officers Elections, which ate up a good half hour of our allotted time, so we only had five people come up, thereby only sampling less than a third of what I'd come up with. Bummer. The "Tower", though, did seem to be a big hit, and I ended up leaving it there in the supply closet, just in case somebody wants to use it later.
Oh, and I ended up getting railroaded into accepting the "Vice President of Education" gig for the next six months ... as far as I can tell, it's just a "record keeper" function, making sure that folks' speeches are logged on the site. Four of the seven "officers" slots ended up going to members who'd been around for less than two months ... I think there must have been a conspiracy at some level to make that happen!