The Greatest (conversational starter thread) Of All Time

Is water a food? I think it is. I couldn’t give up water.

@njfan lettuce - the basis of salads…so many varieties of salads available based on your imagination and preferences.

@njfan my moms lasagna

@njfan Cheese, whether plain, on top of pizza, between slices of bread (grilled) or pasta, etc. Unfortunately, my cholesterol levels and lactose intolerance will have a big say.

@njfan Milk. Just plain, white, liquid milk from a cow (and then pasteurized). I drink milk with at least two meals a day and drinking something else is just not the same.

@njfan Quality dark chocolate.

@njfan cake… I will never give up on cake… the the food or the band

@cbilyak re: lettuce: word on the street is bacon is a great substitute for lettuce.

@tinamarie1974 re: lasagna: please provide samples so we can properly assess. I hope she has the meat to cheese ratio correct (99:1).

@gt0163c agreed. Drinking water is no comparison to drinking milk because water is better.

@macromeh I enjoy m&ms too.

Everyone please send @Koolhandjoe your fruit cakes. He will eat it.

@cbilyak @gt0163c @Koolhandjoe @macromeh @njfan Feel free to stop by on my birthday next month. Mom will be making my favorite sauce for lasagna (drops a roast in the sauce to cook). It will be amazing and she makes enough for me to feast on for the week.

I should warn you, we are sicilian so no ricotta cheese. Mozzarella and Parmigiano/Pecorino Romano only.

@cbilyak @Koolhandjoe @macromeh @njfan @tinamarie1974 Sorry @Koolhandjoe, I’m not willing to share my fruitcake I get from my mom. The number of years my mom is able to bake them (and therefore the number of her fruitcakes I receive) is getting are short and I plan to cherish and savor every remaining one. Maybe once I take over the baking I’ll toss and extra one Joe’s way. Until then, he’ll have to make due with what other Mehizens provide.

@cbilyak @gt0163c @Koolhandjoe @macromeh @njfan @tinamarie1974

Mom will be making my favorite sauce for lasagna (drops a roast in the sauce to cook)

Wow! And then the meat from the roast becomes part of the lasagna?
Can I come over too!?!

@tinamarie1974

/WANT

@Koolhandjoe

I think that perhaps your cake is not a lie?

@cbilyak @gt0163c @Koolhandjoe @Kyeh @macromeh @njfan yes!!! Roast, ground beef and Salsiccia. It is the best stuff on earth

@cbilyak @gt0163c @Koolhandjoe @macromeh @njfan @tinamarie1974
Ooooooo - sounds incredible!

@njfan THE ONLY ACCEPTABLE ANSWER IS: pizza

/giphy stuffed pizza

@njfan The edible ones

I would be curious if Googlezon actually does become a thing but I think I’d like to visit a library, ask for access to LexisNexis and research the best investments and all the winning lottery numbers from the previous 25 years.

@njfan How we as humanity address health care and whether any diseases prevalent today have been irradicated. Not looking to get political with this - just humanitarian concern.

@njfan so many things. Global warming, hunger, quality of life…and travel, can we teleport yet!!!

@njfan Is Meh still selling Bluetooth speakers and power banks, and if so, are we still buying them in absurd quantities?

@njfan How the settlement of Mars is going…

@njfan Are we getting along with others better or kinder? At least being civil?

@shahnm My first reaction was:
What? - not “Are my batteries still fresh?”
But then I realized - of course they would be, safe in your refrigerator!

@njfan I am most interested to see if Amazon and Disney have finally conquered humanity… will they unite and create peace or will the people earth be divided into 2 warring factions… Those who pledge loyalty to the Utopian House of Mouse and the those are loyal to the Dystopian Amazonian overlords…

No one said you could come back, @njfan.

/giphy no backsies

@njfan space travel

@Tadlem43 America or 'mericah?

I think the practical answer would be near the location I had to be/should be at the end of the hour. I don’t like traffic. I mean, I really don’t like traffic.

@njfan Somewhere peaceful out in nature…beach, mountain top, field of flowers…does not matter exactly where so long as the air is fresh and there are no stupid humans around…or bugs/animals that will bite or torment me too much.

@njfan can I steal @cbilyak 's response. It is like they read my mind!

@cbilyak @njfan

Somewhere peaceful out in nature…beach, mountain top, field of flowers…does not matter exactly where so long as the air is fresh and there are no stupid humans around…or bugs/animals that will bite or torment me too much.

But, like, on a toilet, right?

@Limewater @njfan

@njfan Just give me somewhere quite… just would like a bit of quite

@njfan I’m assuming at the end of the hour I would either immediately be transported back to where I started or I could snap my fingers and be back to where I started. Because otherwise I’d have to significantly increase my Lyft/Uber budget.
But, if that’s the case, I think I’d change it up. Some days I’d be on a warm, sandy beach. Some days up in the mountains next to a water fall. Some days I’d go somewhere in a different timezone so I could see the stars or the aurora or an eclipse. Some days I’d want to be by a quiet lake. Other days by a rushing river. Some days I’d want to be in the cat room at an animal shelter around kitty nap time. It would be neat to take a month (or three) and go to a different cathedral or church or other house of worship each day. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t run out of different places to go.

@gt0163c @njfan
This sounds wonderful.

I think virtually every time I would choose to be by my dad.

@haydesigner

@njfan i know I’m late to the game, however, can we transport through time along with the place? Or does it have to be how the place is in it’s current condition?

Dark and cloudy on an autumn day. To mean that means not very sunny but the chances of showers are remote.

@njfan Partly cloudy & cool. Do love a good snowstorm during ski season.

@njfan
sunny and warm.

@njfan electrical storm brewing.

@njfan overcast/fog during the night, burning off by mid-morning, with highs in the low 70s and light breeze in the afternoon

@njfan usually a mix of sunny/cloudy, occasional long gray stretches with some rain; once in a while a full-on thunderstorm with lightning and torrential downpours.

@tinamarie1974 Why? What is going on?

@Kidsandliz oh, couple of things. FedEx issues that seemed to solve itself and family stuff

I will be ok though

@Kidsandliz @tinamarie1974 the family will warm up to the Christmas tree. Wearing sunglasses indoor seems to be trendy .

@tinamarie1974 hopefully the family stuff will solve itself too.

@Kidsandliz it always does

Man, this is a tough one. Thanks, book!
I am going to choose charity. To me, charity introduces tangible opportunities for actualization of lasting empathy. Without getting too preachy, I think the world would be in a better place if there was more of it.

That said, virtues are highly subjective. Example: Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War. I don’t think opinions on his virtuosity would be uniform.

@njfan Kindness. It encompasses many of the other virtues and is contagious.

@njfan I think the world would be better off if more folks practice self-care. I am in no way discounting certain mental diseases, but I find other undesirable behaviors are exasperated because people don’t sleep enough, don’t eat healthy, don’t exercise, don’t Meditate and don’t manage their day to best suit their body.

@show_the_maw @callow - in defense of people, constantly missing out on IRKs can drive anyone to madness.

/image craziness

@njfan patience. These days everything is about immediate gratification. Patience truly is a virtue which is disappearing too quickly.

@njfan
Integrity.

@callow @njfan I second this notion

@Tadlem43
/image integrity farms

@KNmeh7
/giphy wtf

@dyounghbic your thighs and midsection will thank you if you do give it up though.

@dyounghbic @njfan

That would depend, though, on whether @dyounghbic is intending to live a long time, or a good time.

(I aim for the middle, myself.)

It’s the beginning of time. When, where, why, and how does it all begin?

@njfan what came first, the chicken or the egg

@tinamarie1974 I think I remember this from a biology course. It’s likely the egg (the chicken in the egg).

Other than English? Hmm, I’m considering Spanish and Mandarin for professional advancement but I think it’d be interesting if I could be fluent in the language of love. Wait, no, I change my answer. I want to be fluent in PowerShell scripting.

@njfan German for professional purposes and Italian for personal reasons

I want to be a literal know-it-all. All knowledge, in all forms, languages, etc. And then to be able to apply it or better yet, advance it, would be awesome.

POPSOCKETS! ROAD ROCKETS! SONNY CROCKETT! AWESOME!

@njfan the ability to heal

@njfan The Force (then I can play with my light sabers and “You will send me an IRK”.)

@tinamarie1974 some might say the saga of Wolverine is tragic due to his ability to self-heal.

@DTominator we can’t send what we don’t have!

@DTominator @njfan not just self heal, to heal others

@DTominator @tinamarie1974 because I’m the goat of the month, I will take full blame for not acknowledging that.

@njfan Teleportation. I love traveling but hate road trips. Plus it would be an advantage if you forgot to pack something, you could just pop back home and get it.

@DTominator @njfan you need to clarify that you need to send me a good IRK.

@ironcheftoni @njfan I thought about “only good” IRKs later but too late to edit. The Force would work on those that keep trying to get IRKs even though we continually get very very Meh ones. You know, the ones with weak minds that hasn’t learned.. I guess I could pick the good ones after the reveals.

@njfan I think knowing all things would kind of take some of the fun out of life, but that’s just me. I always find it so fascinating to learn something completely new.
I think I’d go with teleportation too, like @ironcheftoni - no driving in heavy traffic, no perking hassles, no airports, etc.

@ironcheftoni @Kyeh but it’d be nice to be called a smart*** and it be a compliment.

@ironcheftoni @njfan
Hah! Well, I suspect you’re pretty smart already.

@njfan lemon drops
and traditional Jolly Rancher hard candies, of course.

@njfan

@njfan ice cubes chocolates. Melts in your mouth

@njfan @tinamarie1974
Ooo, yes - those too.

@tinamarie1974 @kyeh
For anyone who is curious (like myself)

/image ice cubes chocolates.

@Kyeh @tinamarie1974

Yeah, still no clue.

@njfan @tinamarie1974
They have a melty texture kind of like chocolate truffles!

@Kyeh @njfan good explination

@njfan Chick-O-Sticks!

@ironcheftoni
/image chick-o-sticks

after seeing what it looks like, I’m wondering if you have been secretly enjoying dog treats.

@njfan they are basically a butterfinger bar made into a cylinder and rolled in finely grated toasted coconut instead of chocolate. Maybe they are a southern thing. They are made at a little candy company in Lufkin, Texas

@ironcheftoni @njfan I’ll be checking Amazon for those!

My original urge was a sofa but I think it’d get wet. Probably a couple of tires.

@njfan this guy

@njfan
/image Bigfoot 25C10.6 RV

@tinamarie1974 lies we know (s?)he sits up front.

@compunaut if your bigfoot is a rockin’, should we avoid knockin’?

@compunaut @njfan he would absolutely be in the cab!!!

@DTominator talking about other people, maybe putting an actual band back there could be fun. They probably won’t chip in for gas money though.

Dave Righetti, Ramariero Mendoza, Al Toon, Satchel Paige come to mind but it would be awesome to see Jackie Robinson play today. I am more curious about his interplay relationships and environmental observations. Does he think there has been progress or has all the success been a mirage?

LEGOS! EGGOS! STRATEGO! AWESOME!

@njfan Love the idea of Satchel Paige! Maybe Red Grange or Jim Thorpe. Or Walter Payton

@njfan Bobby Plager #5 in the program, but #1 on out heart

/image Bobby Plager

@njfan damn fat fingers

@njfan Bobby Plager #5 in the program, but #1 in our hearts

/image bobby plager

@njfan 20 year old Arvydas Sabonis

@ironcheftoni ohh, that would be wild!

I’d probably want to do away with the ceremony. I understand it’s a special moment that some might want to celebrate with others but …meh, I’m not feeling it. If the ceremony has to take place, how about from start to finish, it lasts about fifteen minutes.

@njfan giving away the bride

@njfan Not a real tradition, but I hate the thing where the bride and groom mash wedding cake into each other’s faces.

@Kyeh a waste of good cake.

@tinamarie1974 agreed, especially when done without charge .

@njfan the one where they line up all the single people to catch or in my case avoid catching the bouquet or garter.

Tough question. If I knew my replacement would complete it competently, I’d say cleaning the bathroom. If that wasn’t a guarantee though, I guess it would be dusting.

@njfan

I guess it would be dusting.

Never really understood why you would dust stuff… but ‘undusting’… that I can wrap my head around.

@njfan windows

@njfan
Bathrooms, especially the tub and the shower stall. The loo is actually not that bad because it’s smaller but leaning into the tub and shower stall to scrub - ugh.

@chienfou you have a future in Geico advertising.
@kyeh I don’t have children but I imagine any parent of young boys would disagree.

@chienfou @njfan Well, I don’t have kids either, so …

@njfan The one thay i always have avoided and still do to this day…dishes!

People aren’t going to like this but I’m going with:

• President Obama
• President Trump
• George Will or Van Jones

I want them all on one set, looking each other eye to eye, having a frank discussion w/ Will or Jones helping Fallon moderate.

@njfan living or dead? Maya Angelou, Julia Child and Ruth Bader Ginsburg

@njfan

• Mother Teresa
• Attila the Hun
• Jimmy Hoffa
  let the chips fall where they may… I won’t be watching since I will be at work…

@ironcheftoni @chienfou what about David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, and Joan Rivers? haha, I enjoy awkwardness.

@njfan Jim Carey, Robin Williams, Jonathan Winters

@ironcheftoni @njfan I want to be in that audience

As long as I am fortunate enough to be employed, my favorite day of the year will likely always be the paid time-off holiday.

@njfan
We work 7on/7off. If the holiday falls on your work week… to bad. We also don’t get extra pay on those days but rather, we get paid an extra 5.25 hours each 2 week pay period to cover holiday and vacation pay. Kinda sucks when Thanksgiving and Christmas both fall on your work weeks.
Currently I am leaning towards “every day I wake up” is my favorite day!

@njfan Halloween is of course the right answer followed by Thanksgiving. I also rather enjoy my birthday because my mom makes my favorite meal!!

@njfan @tinamarie1974
Is that the special lasagna?

@Kyeh @tinamarie1974
/image special lasagna

Couldn’t find sicilian lasagna on grubhub. Been jonesing (sp?) for it ever since it was mentioned. Less ricotta, more meat? Count me in!

@Kyeh @njfan it is lasagna!!! She will be making it in a few short weeks!!!

And no ricotta!!

@njfan First day I can go skiing

@njfan Rex Manning Day!

Let’s exclude ‘meh’ from the possible choices.
For me it is everything is everything. I like this saying because it’s honest yet so broad the listener doesn’t know how to ask for follow-up.

@njfan
Well behaved women seldom make history

@njfan Tis but a scratch comes to mind

@njfan “The squeaky wheel gets the grease” It’s the motto I often live my life by…

What Horse. I would like to name the horse, ‘what horse.’

@njfan Reminds me of Charlotte’s Web.
“Some pig”!

@njfan
Ahead
“Ahead is ahead by a head”
“Nantucket is ahead, Ahead is trailing by a nose”

Or along your vein
Some Horse
“Some Horse is leading”
“Some Horse is coming up on the inside”

@njfan Baby Seal Club

@chienfou I was so disappointed to learn that Eric Gagne doesn’t spell his name “Gagner.”

@chienfou Oh, but I guess there’s a hockey player - Sam Gagner!

Exercising.

@njfan Yeah, that!

@njfan usually exercising or laundry. Lately it’s been getting Christmas baking done

@ironcheftoni if you use a step counter, you’d be surprised by how many steps you can get doing laundry.

@njfan Anything that involves Adulting

@ironcheftoni @njfan Steps doing laundry… when I do laundry for the no kill shelter I put 2.5-3 miles that day just during doing laundry.

Ecuador because a visit to the Galapagos Islands is on my bucket list.

@njfan Norway or the Netherlands; both are my heritage. Visited them in my childhood, but that was 50yr ago
Italy, Greece, and Australia/New Zealand are also on my bucket list.

@njfan Australia/New Zealand sounds like a good choice. Most of the other places on my bucket list are fairly accessible at a reasonable cost.

@njfan France again

@njfan Technically not a foreign country but the Moon. Second place Antartica. Mars would be first but that road trip is too long.

@Kidsandliz Enjoy that California movie studio.

@njfan Nope nope nope. Will go to Antartica if I have to instead of a CA movie studio.

The Nazca Lines in Peru.
There are a lot of theories on how they were made but I am not sure there is anything definitively known. It’d be great to know the how and why behind it.

@njfan The invention of existence

@sicc574
/image mind blown!

Highlights.
The life lessons we learned and still could learn from this wonderful publication.

/youtube goofus gallant

@njfan I loved Highlights!!! Those seek and find puzzles were

@njfan since you stole Highlights, Ill take Readers Digest

@tinamarie1974 who doesn’t like The Digest?

@njfan only crazy people!

@njfan MAD magazine until it went out of print. But now maybe Popular Science

@sicc574 has anyone ever answered the question, how popular Popular Science is?

/youtube pixar up

@njfan

/giphy yesterday movie

@njfan
WALL-E
Back to the Future
LA Confidential

@compunaut I’m not sure if it was the intention but Wall-E is turning out to be a satirical reflection of society (at least for much of the US).

@njfan KIDS

@njfan Monty Python and the holy Grail

@njfan Either Forrest Gump or Blazing Saddles

1, Graphic t-shirt or long sleeve,
2. plaid shirt (untucked of course),
3. a hoodie,
4, clean loose or baggy jeans,
5. and sneakers.

@njfan well, it is because of Covid. Seems my summer attire is yoga pants and a t-shirt (barefoot). Winter business casual includes Muk-Luk slippers that can be worn outside, fuzzy pajama pants and a tshirt. My favorite pair of pj pants are ruldolph themed

@njfan when im in the office, it’s business casual except on special occasions where we can wear jeans. My work from home wardrobe has been gym shorts and tshirts which is far more comfortable. And I find myself more productive when I’m comfortable.

@njfan pajamas, or naked.

@marylynne7 - naked would make video conference calls awkward or maybe not, I don’t know your line of work, lol.

@ironcheftoni - “I find myself more productive when I’m comfortable.” No truer words have been written.

@tinamarie1974 - you’re trendy. I see a lot of kids wearing pajama bottoms out and about.

@ironcheftoni @marylynne7 @njfan but, but never in public. Only from the comfort if my house/home office

@njfan I have worked from home since 2010. Basically my entire professional career for a major company. Never in that time has anyone wanted or attempted to be on a video call. I don’t get the obcession with it the pandemic caused… We were making. “Ugh it’s casual Friday… I have to wear jeans instead of boxers?” Jokes in 2011.

@unksol …are you hiring?

@njfan lol probably hiring decent programmers at the national level on some accounts. Haven’t looked at the job listings in years. And I have no idea how friendly they are to wfh on new hires, they have waffled back and forth over the years. We’ve been bought and sold at the company level multiple times. At my account/module we are staffed up.

Sociology of Gender.
So much I learned and so much I disagreed with. Great course.

@njfan Survey of Rock and Roll

Awesome course. No idea how it assisted my B.S. degree, but it was fun. Dwight was a great professor and I am pretty sure he was chemically altered on more than one occasion lol

MEALS! DEALS! EELS! AWESOME!

@njfan J-school Intro to News Photography.
I’d never used anything but a point & shoot camera, and couldn’t afford a fancy SLR, so I used a Leica my father bought while stationed in Germany as a soldier, and a hand-held light meter. Super hard class, many hours in the darkroom, but I learned SO much, and got one of only three As given by the very tough prof.

@njfan Can’t pick just one. Genetics (had I not been such a dumb as young 20 something with no functioning frontal lobe I would have finished taking all the fucking chemistry I hated and my PhD would have been in human genetics rather than what it is in), followed by Environmental Geology, followed by Science, Technology and Human values, followed by History of Science and Math, followed by the Physics of Music, followed by any art class (I took a lot of those too).

@kyeh - you’d have rocked the course w/ an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy.

@kidsandiz - thank you for reminding us about other courses but you forgot one - gym! Which youth did not enjoy gym class!!!

@njfan

Which youth did not enjoy gym class!!!

Me. I hated it. It was a form of torture, at least until high school when we had options like ice skating.

Curry <fill in the blank>. I cannot stand the smell and smell and taste are closely related, at least for me. Pancakes would also fall into this category but distaste for it is not as passionate as it is for curry.

@njfan broccoli… vile weed. I like Chinese broccoli aka gai lan but can’t stand regular broccoli

@njfan beets

@njfan liver or any other organ

@tinamarie1974 even potato skins?

@ironcheftoni you must have all/most of the bitter genes (I think there are 5 of them). People who hate broccoli are far more likely to be able to taste bitter and to them broccoli has a bitter under taste.

@njfan the skins of potato are a ok!!!

Heh, interesting timing. A lottery ticket today w/ the winning Powerball numbers for next week would be awesome.

A gift that is a bit more attainable (but still out there) would be winning the Meh fantasy football league this year. If @metaphore, @sammydog01, @brendles, @gallogj, and everyone else forgets to start multiple positions over the next couple of weeks, it could happen.

/giphy bend the knee

KRULL! A SKULL! BRETT HULL! AWESOME!

@njfan I’ve already left a bunch of points on my bench so things are looking up for everyone else

@metaphore I think we’ve all been there where our bench outscored our starters. Don’t think of it as a mistake but rather a reflection of your ability to motivate your bench players to not be bench players anymore.

The New York Jets vs. the New York Giants.
I’d be rooting for the Jets!!

I’ve already had the dream World Series with the Mets vs. Yankees, so this would just be sports fan gravy. I really, and I think most Jets fans, would be happy to settle for any NFC team as an a opponent in the Super Bowl.

I’d want a pair of glasses that could visualize unspoken language like reading between the lines or personal behaviors.

The one fact I would like to know about every person I met was ‘which group of people do they not like and the reasons why?’ Doesn’t matter the reasons, doesn’t matter the group, I am just curious.

The opposite question isn’t as interesting because I assume people like more than they dislike.

I purposely leave the question broad (by not specifying what I mean by group) to allow the person to bring up the group of people they feel most passionately about.

@njfan if they are honest to a fault. Yes, I can trust them. If no, well…

@tinamarie1974 I answered off the supposition that it’s a guaranteed fact so they have to be honest.

Then again, it seems in recent years there is a movement to change ‘fact’ from an objective term to a subjective one so you might be right and I am supposing too much.

Swimming. I think learning how to swim is something an adult could reasonably learn how to do for a lifetime in two hours.

@njfan pottery or stained glass

I think this is a tough question. Would sports programming or news programming be considered a show? I hope not (if so, I’d probably lean towards sports programming because I’m comfortable w/ learning the news in print format or from the radio)!

Assuming news and sports are excluded, I’d go with Curb Your Enthusiasm. He behaves how I think…and sometimes behave .

@njfan is it safe to assume that the show I select will continue indefinitely, ie new show every week?

Still a tough decision, but maybe Northern Exposure

@njfan @tinamarie1974
great call TM. I totally loved that show and all the quirky characters it featured.

@njfan it was fun! Thank you for sharing.

@njfan thanks, this was great and I had fun both reading everyones responses and challenging myself with your questions.

@njfan @tinamarie1974
I also enjoyed this string… when I actually remembered to log into meh and check up on things! Dec as been busy :0