Just a question

What is the most intresting question you could put to a new group of friends?

I was once invited to meet a group for dinner in Thailand whilst on buisness, the people there were all over 50 had various backgrounds from rich to poor legal to ilegal and just met to discuss things over food (later found out they were all heads of some gang or other. The guy who was leading things advised they all met once a month and someone had to come up with a question which they would discuss over a smoke some drink and food.

He introduced me then asked me to offer the nights topic.

What would you have offered? 

That one would certainly qualify! If you put that question to a group of friends, it'll certainly make them think

i would ask my standard question: would you rather have a purple arm, or be diaper-dependent for the rest of your life?

what this answers in part is how much care about what others think. some people would rather wear their small oddities on the outside, while others would rather appear perfect outwardly, but are internally sitting in a pile of ____, if you know what i mean.  

Classic!

Its cool man!

I would ask,

if you travel at the speed of light what happens when you turn your lights on

No ask them where the money went......   just keep reading....

3 men go to a hotel. The manager says the room is 15 dollars so each man pays 5 bucks and heads off to sleep. A few minutes later the manager says to the bellhop hey rooms are 10 dollars tonight i over charged the 3 men, here take this 5 dollar bill back to the 3 men. So the bellhop goes up the steps but on his way he says to himself...3 men and i have 5 dollars i can't split this up evenly so i'll keep 2 dollars and give each man back 1 dollar. and thats what he did so each man paid 4 dollars  4+4+4+=12 plus the two the bellhop kept 12+2=14 Where did the extra dollar go???  The men paid 15!???  That should keep them going all night!

I like the one wish theme but here's a twist: Once each person gave the gorup their one wish, the group would then see if the wish was fullproof. In other words:

Person One: I wish I was the greatest guitar playing in the world (the person is thinking about all the fame and glory that goes with being a great muusician, but does not think of how this wish could go wrong):

Group member answers:

 "You become the greatest guitasrist in the world, except your stuck on an empty island with no one to hear you play," say one of the group. The person with the wish replies, "It doesn't matter because I simply love to play." Another group member chimes in, "Well, lets say you become the worlds greatest guitar player in a style you have, say polka music" The wishful wanna be rock guitar god is stumped since he dreads polka music (his parents force fed him Lawrence Welk as a child and he's been in therapy and wets the bed every time he hears an accordian).

       Now this is a simple example of how the game would work. Don't write me nasty notes if you're a big polka fan. I am a big supporter of Polkacide, a local  punk rock polka band. I simply used this as an example. I played this game once and wished for my wife's happiness when I first found out I had cancer. I thought about my answer, long and hard, and realized at that moment that I have a great life. I'm 46 and get to bang away on my guitar as a professional musician. I get to play tons of chess. I have my happiness. It was time to give someone else the gift of happiness. The secret of the game is to wish something good for someone else. Then you come out a winner in the end.

On a closing note, do not think that I am some soft new age type. Ever Watch House MD on television. I am that cane using, vicodin popping, grumpy and arogant individual. Dr. House, that's me. I even taught pre-med students for a few years.

"How about that George Bush?"

I can't imagine that this isn't a subject on which just about anyone, anywhere, would have an opinion. It would also serve as a weeding out process, identifying those individuals with whom I'd want to have no further association. 

Here is one after the evening has worn on a while.

Who plugged up the toilet?

Perhaps not interesting but funny anyways (:

 Hm:

"I would not want to associate with X because of X's opinion on Y"

Seems rather shallow to me. 

It isn't merely the opinion of the person in question that is at issue. Rather, it is the overarching weltanschauung indicated by that opinion--diametrically opposed to my own--which precludes further association. 

Since Erik has subsequently made it clear that he doesn't want political discussions on his board, I'm to leave it at that.