The DU Lounge
Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsYou are quarantined for 21 days. Pick a person from today, or in the past in there with you.
Rule: Can't be family.
I choose Groucho Marx.
drray23
(7,638 posts)hedda_foil
(16,379 posts)lapfog_1
(29,244 posts)was lucky enough to hear him speak to a small audience of people at NASA back in the day.
He could tell you stories....
Xipe Totec
(43,893 posts)JenniferJuniper
(4,517 posts)DonaldsRump
(7,715 posts)He would make me a nicer person and help me lose weight!
Seriously, though, Gandhi was too cool.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Gandhi was something of a dick, personally.
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ezj3km/gandhi-was-a-racist-who-forced-young-girls-to-sleep-in-bed-with-him
DonaldsRump
(7,715 posts)jberryhill
(62,444 posts)If hes bringing the bedwarmer girls, that would be a plus.
MaryMagdaline
(6,859 posts)The Velveteen Ocelot
(116,032 posts)evertonfc
(1,713 posts)MontanaMama
(23,369 posts)Hes a person.
Delmette2.0
(4,178 posts)Always affectionate, doesn't argue, happy with anything I cook for dinner.
MontanaMama
(23,369 posts)You've got a good thing going there.
Delmette2.0
(4,178 posts)She just tilts her head and looks at me. It seems that she is saying "WTF are you talking about"
mikelgb
(6,021 posts)Jarqui
(10,131 posts)You could play competitive games.
You could have laughs
You could talk about all kinds of issues and topics.
kozar
(2,141 posts)I would take Mrs K, and our Tess. I will even add, since I pulled Tess out of her daily trips to be with other intellectually challenged people,, the 3 of us are having a ball, we are just smiling and enjoying!
Well damn,,cant be family,,, now I got nothing on edit.,,,,,lol
Koz
malchickiwick
(1,474 posts)Lots of profound conversations, booze, weed, and cigarettes
Ilsa
(61,721 posts)Should we be sending someone to do health checks on you?
malchickiwick
(1,474 posts)Ilsa
(61,721 posts)in the hospital, facing her problems with dementia, personality disorder, vertigo, etc even though two days ago she told me I wasn't family, confabulated stories about me and her son, called the police on him based on confabulated story, which upset my autistic son and prompted him to destroy property and physically assault me and my husband. And we have COVID-19 in our county/hospital.
So no, I'm not inclined to idealize being around suicidal people with mental illnesses or personality disorders for 21 days. If I get a fantasy visit, I'd rather have peaceful conversations, not more of what I live with on a daily basis. If anyone I chose didn't meet that criteria, I'd pick another.
Laffy Kat
(16,396 posts)malchickiwick
(1,474 posts)It's always nice to know who the heartless dickholes are. Cheers mother fucker!
Laffy Kat
(16,396 posts)asiliveandbreathe
(8,203 posts)getagrip_already
(15,002 posts)mary ann from gilligans island, but at the age she filmed the show. Yes, i'm shallow.
I'm not a ginger type of guy. Sorry ginger.
ProfessorGAC
(65,466 posts)Eko
(7,424 posts)Eko.
LisaM
(27,864 posts)Might as well be mindful of my fitness.
blm
(113,142 posts)nolabear
(42,009 posts)My favorite boyfriend. We enjoyed shutting the world out for days at a time.
He died in 94.
nolabear
(42,009 posts)in an issue. It read One thing led to another, and before we knew it, we were dead. Ayup.
blm
(113,142 posts)Old times sake and he sent that to them.
He died from a brain aneurysm shortly after. Which he predicted. He suffered from migraines and would say he just knew one day his head would just explode.
Ilsa
(61,721 posts)He's into music, is brilliant as an actor. I think I'd like him.
Or Alan Rickman. I could listen to his voice all day and night for 21 days.
FDR.
sprinkleeninow
(20,272 posts)Joinfortmill
(14,528 posts)Skittles
(153,321 posts)yes indeed
Duncan Grant
(8,298 posts)There comes a time...
Skittles
(153,321 posts)RockRaven
(15,105 posts)That girl's got a thousand interesting stories...
gay texan
(2,490 posts)We have a bunch of vintage bikes to play with in the garage
lastlib
(23,394 posts)Second choice would be Andrei Sakharov.
captain queeg
(10,316 posts)Sometimes you gotta look out for the greater good
kairos12
(12,906 posts)Moostache
(9,897 posts)no question...or Richard Pryor
kairos12
(12,906 posts)I loved his comment about gas station bathrooms. "Why do they lock the doors, are they afraid someone is going to break in and clean them."
First Speaker
(4,858 posts)...he'd keep me laughing, and his comments on Trump would be epic...
DBoon
(22,433 posts)Henry David Thoreau
John Muir
I can think of a few others...
Cartoonist
(7,326 posts)I may regret it.
MLAA
(17,376 posts)Midnight Writer
(21,886 posts)jmowreader
(50,604 posts)Laelth
(32,017 posts)That is a really excellent choice.
-Laelth
DiverDave
(4,895 posts)Hell, we would have a movie written
Frasier Balzov
(2,682 posts)Such a nice lady, who needed a trustworthy and understanding friend.
PuffedMica
(1,061 posts)Fear and Loathing on the Corona Virus.
SCantiGOP
(13,879 posts)Would be quite dark and fascinating to hear his take on his suicide.
zanana1
(6,140 posts)Mendocino
(7,533 posts)Totally Tunsie
(10,885 posts)Both are intelligent, interesting, humorous and easy to look at. Yummmm.
spooky3
(34,543 posts)Doodley
(9,179 posts)nevergiveup
(4,772 posts)and some weed
Layzeebeaver
(1,647 posts)Last edited Thu Mar 19, 2020, 07:27 AM - Edit history (1)
And I second the weed!
EDIT: No wait... 21 days? I need to change my answer...
Elena Croft (NSFW)
Might not need the weed then? Nah, of course I do!
Captain Zero
(6,871 posts)why not?
sakabatou
(42,207 posts)Polly Hennessey
(6,819 posts)Marthe48
(17,152 posts)Last edited Thu Mar 19, 2020, 10:56 AM - Edit history (1)
n/t
panader0
(25,816 posts)I'm a quick study. Democrats only please.
ProfessorGAC
(65,466 posts)Other than he's a dick, a far right nutcase, a coward, and is a hack as a guitar player, I mean!
musicman65
(524 posts)it has to be Paul Mccartney,,the music we could play and the stories,,,well that could carry on much longer.
Dem2theMax
(9,662 posts)I wasn't exactly thinking about the music part though.
Evergreen Emerald
(13,071 posts)Might as well have a good meal!
Laelth
(32,017 posts)-Laelth
DFW
(54,527 posts)MY first instinct is Thomas Jefferson, but I might get frustrated that the 21 days might go by too quickly.
Maybe Anna Chapman, that Russian spy that Joe Biden said it wasn't HIS idea to send home? I think 21 days might be just the right amount of time to learn a thing or two without it being so long that I would get a heart attack from the excess strain.
Samuel Clemens would be ideal as long as he doesn't get to bring his cigars.
With Jefferson or Mark Twain, at least I'd come back with more great quotes than I could ever memorize.
With Anna Chapman, I would (if the rumors were true) have enough information to write a best-selling supplement to the Kama Sutra and be set for life.
Decisions, decisions..........
NNadir
(33,594 posts)Freeman Dyson.
It would be a fabulous 21 days of trying to find a topic about which he knows nothing.
In the fascinating afternoon I spent with him, I found no such topic.
DFW
(54,527 posts)The few times we got to spend any serious time together, we would discuss everything from radio announcing to law school to ancient Egyptian civilization to my job to his latest job (searching in Vietnam and Cambodia for long-term MIAs to give their families closure) and on and on and on.
There wasn't much he didn't know about either. He was once portrayed in a film as a glib military radio announcer with nothing but catchy one-liners. In reality, he was a soft-spoken intellectual whose knowledge was incredibly vast, and ever-expanding. His name was Adrian Cronauer.
NNadir
(33,594 posts)He did, however, lead a very interesting life.
At one point I tried to move into a quasi-biological topic, the Stuart Kauffman hypothesis on self-ordering system on the origins of life, referring to a remark by Kaufmann describing life as an "eddy in thermodynamics" and he began telling me all kinds of things about Kauffman's life that he knew from personal interactions.
I couldn't see my own face of course, but I'm sure my jaw dropped. My sons were with me, but they were young, and they both express now that they wished they'd been older and could have better followed the conversation.
I would have liked to have drawn out more commentary from him about Oppenheimer, but the afternoon ended, and we exchanged a few pleasant emails afterwards, but I really didn't feel comfortable making myself an annoyance by asking for more.
DFW
(54,527 posts)The actor portraying Adrian (Robin Williams) was really only portraying himself using Adrian's name.
As opposed to your experience with Dyson, I kept in close touch with Adrian for most of the time, even after he finally retired from the Pentagon, and moved to southwestern Virginia. He used to send me some of the most fabulous jokes, including the classic "No Jews, Please." He turned somewhat reclusive when his wife died, and he did not survive much longer after that.
He was a very warm and witty person, totally unimpressed by the fame the film had brought him. Since he neither looked or sounded anything like Robin Williams, no one ever recognized him outside of a small circle.
One time, when my younger daughter was in law school, a classmate of hers was visiting us here in Düsseldorf. He asked if I knew anyone in the U.S. military, since he needed to write some paper that needed some input from someone in the military. I said well, sort of, but not anyone currently active of high stature. I knew Wes Clark, but he was already retired. Adrian was the only one I knew who was still available. I told the law student I could call Adrian up if he wanted. The kid said, "yeah, sure, you can just call up Adrian Cronauer." I told him to wait, called up Adrian in the States, and put the dumbfounded kid on the phone. It was really hilarious to watch his face go from smug disbelief to speechless amazement. "uhhh, Mr. Cronauer?" He had been maybe three years old when "Good Morning Vietnam" came out, but clearly, he had seen it and knew Adrian's name.
NNadir
(33,594 posts)I actually don't remember the movie, although I'm pretty sure I saw it at least one time, and I was one way or another aware of Andrian Cronauer's name, and I guess that's all I know of him.
Of course, if someone were to make a movie about my life, one would need someone interesting playing themselves and using my name to make the movie interesting, since I am decidedly not interesting, something I very much like to be.
I have not had a deep personal relationship with famous people - the Muppet Richard Hunt once stayed in my house for a few days as a guest of my housemate with whom he grew up, but I would say I strongly disliked him and avoided too much interaction. As I was a single guy - something of a beach bum - with no children, I was barely aware of who or what the Muppets were.
Most of the other famous people in whose presence I have been - most being famous scientists who I encountered at various meetings - seemed unimpressed with their fame.
I once waited on a line with Toni Morrison to order a falafel, with John Nash to order Teriyaki and another time sitting on a train, and with Meg Ryan to order an ice cream when she was making (a rather silly) movie around here; but I felt in all cases, they desired to be left alone, and I respected that. I think they just wanted to order food. I would imagine, but do not know, that it's somewhat painful to try to order food and be accosted by strangers who want to remark on your fame, of which you are acutely aware in any case.
I also have a tendency to get a little tongue tied around these kinds of people. I once sat right next to Glenn Seaborg at an ACS meeting - in fact the one at which it was announced that an element was going to be named for him - and didn't say a word to him. I was too embarrassed. When he stood after being acknowledged by the speaker - it was Ken Hulet, a co-discoverer of Seaborgium, talking about Einsteinium - Seaborg stood up, waved and sat down again. He didn't seem full of himself at all. From those who knew him well, I heard he was a wonderful man. Someone here, or on another blog, told me that Seaborg was his undergraduate adviser at Berkeley and he behaved just like a normal guy in the faculty. A talk I attended by Roald Hoffman, another Nobelist, he also struck me as a warm and wonderful guy. Recently I attended a talk by Richard Roberts, another Nobelist, who struck me as a very nice guy, and from his talk, a wonderful citizen of the world, inasmuch as he is using his fame to promote public good.
In Dyson's presence and in conversation, there was no feeling that he was famous. Of course, he was, but there was no mention of it. You had to ask about someone he knew before he would discuss that person; mostly he just talked science, and the one thing I remember was how he lit up when we discussed his work on establishing that the fine structure constant was, in fact, constant over long periods of time. He told me it was the last piece of real science he did. I spent a lot of time trying to translate to the children, my sons and one of my son's best friend at the time who I'd invited, why the things we were discussing were important to the history of science. My oldest was a teenager, my youngest, a late preteen. My oldest often remarks that he wished he'd been a little bit older so he could have appreciated the moment more. (At least they'll always have the pictures.)
I have heard and read accounts by scientists that becoming famous kind of ruined their scientific lives. Richard Feynman made that complaint saying that when they award one the Nobel Prize, they should politely ask you first if you want it. He claimed he didn't want it, and that it was a pain in the ass.
Thanks for making Mr. Cronauer real. I'm sure in real life he was a very interesting guy.
DFW
(54,527 posts)I have had occasion to rub shoulders with a fair number of "famous" people, but the aura wears off quickly when you get to know them. By no means all "ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances," although some of them leave that impression.
Some, notably Bill Clinton, Theo Bikel and Barack Obama, really do give (or did give) that inexplicable "aura" of being something special the second they walk into a room. But some, like Adrian was, are very "what's-the-big-deal-it's-just-me" types.
Of the two Nobel Prize winners I know, one, Bill Phillips (Physics) is as down to earth as the corner druggist. The other, David Trimble (Peace), I haven't seen in over ten years, and I hope he is still lucid. He is a wonderful character when sober, but when I used to hang with him, that wasn't often! But David was just as no-big-deal as Bill is. Very much what one imagines to be the archetypical Irish wit. Of course, the Nobel Prize is not awarded to just anyone. Even so, both men have obviously gone on with their lives as if winning the Nobel Prize were no more important than winning an extra loaf of bread at the local supermarket.
Howard Dean is another who very much fits that description. Of course, Howard was someone who didn't even burst on the national stage until well after he was 50, so he never really had a "hey-look-at-me" attitude to plague him when he suddenly became a household name. I knew him when he was "Howard Who?" and he's pretty much the same guy now that he was then, even after all he's been through (and accomplished!). His description of his 2003-2004 ill-fated presidential campaign is, "we didn't know what the hell we were doing."
Here is Adrian's "No Jews Please" joke that he sent me those many years ago:
A US Navy cruiser anchored in Mississippi for a week's shore leave.
The first evening, the ship's Captain received the following note from
the wife of a very wealthy and influential plantation owner:
"Dear Captain, Thursday will be my daughter Melinda's Debutante Ball.
I would like you to send four well-mannered, handsome, unmarried
officers in their formal dress uniforms to attend the dance."
"They should arrive promptly at 8:00 PM prepared for an evening of
polite Southern conversation. They should be excellent dancers, as
they will be the escorts of lovely refined young ladies. One last
point: *"No Jews please."*
Sending a written message by his own yeoman, the captain replied:
"Madam, thank you for your invitation. In order to present the widest
possible knowledge base for polite conversation, I am sending four of
my best and most prized officers."
"One is a lieutenant commander, and a graduate of Annapolis with an
additional Masters degree from MIT in fluid technologies and ship
design."
"The second is a Lieutenant, one of our helicopter pilots, and a
graduate of Northwestern University in Chicago , with a BS in
Aeronautical Engineering. His Masters Degree and PhD. In Aeronautical
and Mechanical Engineering are from Texas Tech University and he is
also an astronaut candidate."
"The third officer is also a lieutenant, with degrees in both computer
systems and information technology from SMU and he is awaiting
notification on his Doctoral Dissertation from Cal Tech."
"Finally, the fourth officer, also a lieutenant commander, is our
ship's doctor, with an undergraduate degree from the University of
Georgia and his medical degree is from the University of North
Carolina . We are very proud of him, as he is also a senior fellow in
Trauma Surgery at Bethesda ."
Upon receiving this letter, Melinda's mother was quite excited and
looked forward to Thursday with pleasure. Her daughter would be
escorted by four handsome naval officers without peer (and the other
women in her social circle would be insanely jealous).
At precisely 8:00 PM on Thursday, Melinda's mother heard a polite rap
at the door which she opened to find, in full dress uniform, four very
handsome, smiling Black officers.
Her mouth fell open, but pulling herself together, she stammered,
"There must be some mistake."
"No, Madam," said the first officer.
"Captain Goldberg never makes mistakes."
NNadir
(33,594 posts)People will never believe you when you tell them who it came from (Adrian, not me).
Kaleva
(36,409 posts)Beringia
(4,317 posts)rurallib
(62,492 posts)Laughs and intelligent conversation.
SCantiGOP
(13,879 posts)The computer messed up your choice and you get Stephen Miller and John Barron.
Roland99
(53,342 posts)Laelth
(32,017 posts)Vice-President of the Confederacy, a fellow Georgian, leader of the sane people in the South who, prior to the Civil War, were arguing, Dont do it! Were gonna get our butts kicked! They had to make him VP to appease the Southern anti-war faction. He was a short, sickly, geeky intellectual. I suspect that he and I could enjoy a pleasant 21 days together and would look forward to doing it again when time permitted.
-Laelth
LaelthsDaughter
(150 posts)This is a tough one for me. I thought about people like Thomas Jefferson or Markiplier. However, I think that this one person needs credit: Michael Kovach. Hes not that big if you arent a follower of anime voice actors. Hes funny like Robin Whilliams, but hes also a lot like me. Hes a natural voice actor. I feel like I could get real pointers from him. We could connect and really be of great value to each other. For me, that would be the best. You might know him from Hazbin hotel, Lucid9, highway blossoms, death battle, ect...
Thank you for the entertaining question!
3catwoman3
(24,147 posts)Lawrence ODonnell
John Fugelsang
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,843 posts)I've always wanted to have enough time to really talk to him! He's so intelligent about so many things, plus he speaks at least 7 languages.
And he has a sense of humor!
It would be an incredibly interesting time.
DFW
(54,527 posts)OK, so he's intelligent. You can't have everything!
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,843 posts)I think the world of you, and you should know that!
And your intelligence far outstrips mine!
Pete's a fantasy for me. You and I live in the real world.
DFW
(54,527 posts)Just giving you a hard time. It happens when I get cooped up in the same country for more than three days in a row!
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,843 posts)Can you go for a walk around the block? Or something like that?
I find that getting out of the house, even briefly, is helpful.
Ron Obvious
(6,261 posts)At least I could trust him to keep his mouth shut while I try to read.
Brother Buzz
(36,511 posts)PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,931 posts)She's funny, she's smart, maybe she'd tell me the full plot of the novel she's currently writing.
For those of you who don't know, Connie is a science fiction writer, and absolutely incredible one. The book of hers I recommend to everyone is The Doomsday Book. And it has lessons for what's currently going on today.
In it, time travel has been invented and is used exclusively by historians. To study history, of course. A young woman is planning to go to a particular village in England in 1320. Shortly before she's sent back, a terrible influenza pandemic breaks out and lots of people are sick. But she's sent back. It's around Christmas time, and after a while people around her start dying. She essentially asks, "What the fuck year is it?" (Connie is too well-mannered to talk like that) and is told, "1348." She's arrived at the peak of the Black Death.
It's an amazing book, and if you can get a copy, read it as soon as you can.
I know Connie from my science fiction stuff, and would find be quarantined with her to be a delight. Plus, she really hates Trump.
Lunabell
(6,142 posts)He'd entertain and make bread.
VOX
(22,976 posts)Hes come into vogue (again) lately, which is great. Not a con artist, not a guru, didnt get rich (just made a living) as a self-described philosophical entertainer. His recorded lectures are terrific.
21 days would fly by.
OregonBlue
(7,756 posts)Niagara
(7,778 posts)Living- Clea DuVall, Angela Bassett, Jaime Lee Curtis, Kim Dickens, Milla Jovovich, Conan O'Brien, George Lopaz, Brett Cullen, Frank Dillane, Norman Reedus, Danny Trejo, James Brolin, and Evan Peters. I would also like to add my absolute crush of all dreamboat crushes Nestor Carbonell.
Deceased: Wendell Phillips, Harriet Tubman, Hedy Lamarr, Princess Diana, Marilyn Monroe, Katharine Hepburn and any of our suffragettes like Alice Paul or Lucy Stone.
lindysalsagal
(20,805 posts)Miss him.😔
mr_lebowski
(33,643 posts)But it'd be worth it to find out once and for all ...
Also, there's that whole 'healing the sick' thing he's got going ...
cannabis_flower
(3,771 posts)Willie Nelson
CTyankee
(63,932 posts)I would like to speak to her about her method in acting and go through each role. I'd like to know about what she considers her hardest role to play, the role she enjoyed playing the most, and her favorite leading men. Then we'd talk about favorite artists and their art and then we'd discuss our favorite music.