Heard a question on teevee last night that I thought was rather interesting. If you could spend 4 hours talking with any person from either history or the present (excluding "religeous" figures and relatives), whom would you choose?

And while I'm at it- I've occasionally asked people another question which always seems to bring out some interesting answers... If you could miniaturize any animal in the world and have it as a housepet, what animal would it be? (As an example, imagine an elephant the size of a poodle.)

Yes... I am very bored at the moment.

-- CD (costavike@hotmail.com), February 09, 2001

Answers

Well I'm bored too CD,so I'll jump in.

The person I'd most like to talk to is the man who discovered how to make wove paper.James Whatman.For those of you who haven't even thought about paper the wove stuff is say computer printouts & newspaper whilst the laid paper, which is the more expensive, has lines in it when you hold the sheet upto the light.His discovery in 1758 facilitated the invention of the papermachine which in turn was responsible for the explosion in newspapers,book production.

As to which animal I would like to shrunk ..well it would have to be a Siberian Tiger or an otter.

-- Chris (enquiries@griffenmill.com), February 09, 2001.

1. Thomas Jefferson

2. I wouldn't do that to an animal.

-- Buddy (buddydc@go.com), February 09, 2001.

I'm sure I'll catch flack for choosing actors BUT...Gary Oldman, Garth Brooks or Tom Cruise (the last two happen to be single at the moment- woohoo!)

As for the animal, elephants and giraffes are magnificent. A lemur I wouldn't have to shrink and boy are they cute. They would be safe in my care, but I would never want to take them away from their homes/natural habitat and families.

-- (cin@cin.cin), February 09, 2001.

I take that back...Ludwig von Beethoven

-- (cin@cin.cin), February 09, 2001.

Cin, Tom is rather small..you wouldn't need to shrink him.My mother told me all men were animals. he,he.

-- Chris (enquiries@griffenmill.com), February 09, 2001.

Marco Polo

And I'd love a great big aquarium in the sun room, filled with little bitty whales.

----------------------------

-- Lon Frank (lgal@exp.net), February 09, 2001.

Chris- A mini-Siberian Tiger would be a good choice if you're a cat lover. (I'm not!)

Cin- I'd agree with the giraffe choice. How bizarre it would be to see a giraffe walking around your living room!

"I wouldn't do that to an animal." Buddy- I forgot the disclaimer... No animals will actually be minaturized, removed from their natural habitat or in any other way be harmed by the answering of this silly little hypothetical question. Now do you care to take a shot at it?

-- CD (costavike@hotmail.com), February 09, 2001.

Love the whales in the aquarium choice!

-- CD (costavike@hotmail.com), February 09, 2001.

Shoeless Joe Jackson

And a pool of little dolphins and sea turtles.

That would be too cool!!!

Deano

-- Deano (deano@luvthebeach.com), February 09, 2001.

LOL Chris! Tom is probably about breast-height on me. I'll just bet that would work out great. heehee

Oh Deano, I adore dolphins. Good choice

-- (cin@cin.cin), February 09, 2001.

Stephen King

Koala bear

-- Peg (pegmcleod@mediaone.net), February 09, 2001.

cin

Dolphins are the most awesome creatures. We try to make it down to here:

www.dolphins.org

at least once a year to swim with'em. One of the neatest places on the planet!! Check it out!

Deano

-- Deano (deano@luvthebeach.com), February 09, 2001.

Question #1: Bob Marley, Carl Sagan, Richard Feynman, Michio Kaku, Frank Zappa, Teddy Roosevelt, Abe Lincoln, John Adams, anyone who was a slave in this country, Eve (both), W.E.B. Du Bois, MLK, Malcolm X, so many others. Sorry. Couldn't stop at just one.

Question #2: Does CPR qualify?

-- Rich (howe9@shentel.net), February 09, 2001.

(1). Elvis

(2). T-Rex

-- Barry (bchbear863@cs.com), February 09, 2001.

T-Rex LOL. Now that'd make one helluva good watchdog!

-- CD (costavike@hotmail.com), February 09, 2001.

Fran Lebowitz - the magazine columnist noted for her satirical essays on urban life. Such wit and style!

(But I'd also like to invite Stephen Hawking, Picasso and John Lennon to the party too!)

Llama, panda, manatee, elephant, hippo, cheetah...aw hell, ALL of 'em! Do the whole friggin' zoo!

-- Creative (Minds@IntrigueMe.com), February 09, 2001.

I was gonna say Panda, but they're too lazy.

So, I'll say Grizzly Bear.

I like the T-Rex and Whales though!

-- Buddy (buddydc@go.com), February 09, 2001.

Why do we have to exclude religious figures? I would certainly like to talk to Jesus. I'd like to determine for myself if he was crazy, truly God or truly God-like. I'd also love to meet any of the robber barons and Booker T. Washington.

I love monkeys so if I could have a 2inch monkey dance on my palm that would be fun.

-- (Netsc@pe 6.0), February 09, 2001.

BTW, sorry, I often take things too literally.

Have a great weekend!

-- Buddy (buddydc@go.com), February 09, 2001.

"I love monkeys so if I could have a 2inch monkey dance on my palm that would be fun."

Ah.....nope! Ain't goin' there:>)

-- Barry (bchbear863@cs.com), February 09, 2001.

I was gonna say Panda, but they're too lazy.

They're not lazy, they're nocturnal and get into mischief while you're sleeping and blissfully unaware.

-- Pet (Facts@zoo.com), February 09, 2001.

"Ah.....nope! Ain't goin' there:>)"

Good thing! :-D

-- (Netsc@pe 6.0), February 09, 2001.

Mark Twain. And I'd love to have an amoeba blown up to housepet size.

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), February 09, 2001.

LMAO Flint!

-- CD (costavike@hotmail.com), February 09, 2001.

hmmmm,

Just one person, huh?

Abraham Lincoln... "the ayes have it!"

And I don't need any more pets!!!

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), February 09, 2001.

Leonardo da Vinci.

A friend's noble and sweet Rottweiler (no shrinking necessary).

I'm not sure how Flint's amoeba would work out. Ever try to put a leash on one?!

-- David L (bumpkin@dnet.net), February 09, 2001.

Carl Jung or Albert Einstein. Igor Stravinsky. Any of the leaders of the women's suffrage movement.

Platypus.

-- FutureShock (gray@matter.think), February 10, 2001.

CD:

You brought up some thoughts that I'd thought had only occurred in my dreams.

I'd like to spend 4 hours with my "Aunt" Ruth. She's something like 97 now [and never really WAS a relative, but you know how our parents had us call folks "Aunt" when we were kids.] She lives in Illinois, and has spent her 97 years as a liberal. I called her a while back and she said, "What did you think about this election?" She's just always been so "in touch" with things that I admire her. My own mom is 10 years her junior, and can't remember what she had for lunch. The really pitiful thing is that I'm probably following in my mom's footsteps, as my memory isn't so good anymore either.

Moving on to the miniature animals, I've had three or four dreams now of having miniature animals, as well as full-sized birds. Freud would have a field-day with this, I'm sure, because I ALWAYS fear in these dreams that I forgot to feed the animals. When I go to check, the miniatures [and they include one giraffe, one llama, and some other wild things...nothing so big as an elephant] always still have food, while some of the birds have dropped dead from not being fed.

IRL, I have NO pets. I had many my entire adult life until a few years ago, but I don't want the responsibility anymore. I once had 150 houseplants, as well, and now I have NONE. Of course, SO has quite a few, and he's on contract out-of-state, so I must remember to water HIS plants, and I force myself to remember to water them. The dreams started before he went on contract out-of-state, so I don't see an association there with the birds and his plants.

I'd thought these dreams too weird to mention. It's almost comforting that someone else has "visions" of miniature animals. [You can feed these things once/month and they always have enough to eat.] Kids, on the other hand, eat one day and the next day they're looking for food AGAIN. [Joke, people, but I'm also grateful that my kids are grown because I'd probably forget to feed them, too.]

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), February 10, 2001.

Anita- Those are some pretty weird dreams for sure. (And quite the coincidence that "visions" of miniature animals are now being discussed on this forum.) Hmmm... You might want to reconsider your choice for the person you'd most like to talk with. I'm sure you'd like to speak with your "Aunt" again but, considering those bizarre dreams you're having, you might find that 4 hours on Sigmund's couch would be of a lot more benefit ;-)

-- CD (costavike@hotmail.com), February 10, 2001.