"If..." Project - Week 2

Here's Week 2 of the "If..." project, being done by my friend at JD2.0 and his friend Nick. Only 123 more weeks to go from here!

1. If you could have lived through any war in history (without actually fighting in it), which would it be?

As a good Southern boy, I'd definitely have to pick the Civil War. I think the Civil War, along with the Revolutionary War, made the greatest impact on our country. Call it the war against slavery, the war of northern aggression, blah blah blah. In my opinion, it wasn't much different from the colonists fighting the Redcoats.

"But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security."

Looking back, I can't say I'm disappointed in the outcome. As economically disadvantaged as the South is now, it would be far worse as an independent Confederacy. But back to the point of the question, it would have been a very interesting time in which to live.


2. If you could eliminate any one type of insect permanently from the earth, what would you get rid of?

Gnats. All the bug spray in the world can't get rid of those little things. When I played a lot of golf back in the day, one of the golf moms had everyone dabbing vanilla extract behind their ears - some old Southern remedy I suppose. That went on for an entire summer, though I couldn't really tell that it worked.


3. If you had to eliminate a single type of animal forevermore, which would you choose?

I can't even think about spiders without shuddering. I know they're supposedly (for my grammatically challenged friends, you would say "supposably") good for pest control, but they make sprays for those pests and I choose chemicals over 8-legged creatures any day.

4. If you could have an elegant dinner alone with anyone presently alive, whether you know them or not, who would you want it to be?

As Nick noted, this question is not about a romantic dinner - an elegant dinner is entirely different. For something that special I'd have to pick Alton Brown, the Mr. Wizard/Bill Nye/Albert Einstein of the culinary world. I'd love to be able to sit with him over a 50 course (ok, I'd go for a few less I suppose) prix fixe dinner. I've heard about them on the Food Network and I'd love to hear what he would have to say about the techniques used in each course, his expert opinion on each course, and definitely the other amazing conversation I could imagine would accompany the dinner. He's by far my favorite person on the Food Network.