you choose the topic

 A week of silence from the distant freehold so I took it on myself to send photons streaming northwards to see what is going on and this is what I got back: 

 It's the same as before.  I get tired of repeating the same arguments over and over again.  Neither of us is likely to change the other's opinions about these subjects.  Maybe we need different topics.  

Well alrighty then but I have to wonder why you didn't just post that?  Isn't that what the Institute is all about?

I have long ago left behind the hope that minds could be changed.  But I am always wondering what the other side is thinking, or more importantly why do they think the way they do.  To do that you have to ask questions, and then if you come across something that does not seem logical, you have to point that out and ask why that is.  Unfortunately at this point tempers begin to rise and the discourse of pure reason is lost and you get into this yammering thing that even a guy like me who loves to argue, does not enjoy.

I have often said that we need different topics and I have tried to introduce them but often they have fallen like the Autumn leaves with nobody interested in picking them up.  I try to do a lot of philosophy but nobody has any interest in that at all.  I've tried asking questions like what it was like being in the army, but what I got back was what you guys did, not what you felt about it.  I've tried things like favorite jobs and the worst jobs you ever had and nada.

I had to look up that chestnut about the three things you should never talk about.  I knew about politics and religion, but I couldn't remember the third thing which internet research revealed was money.  Money?  Who the hell ever talks about money?

Religion we've talked about a bit, but there is really not much to say, you either believe it or you don't.

I remember back some time I got in a bit of a huff over that damned ice cream machine.  My bad.  If people want to talk about something I am not interested in, well that is their right.  If I don't like what is being discussed I can ignore it and just talk about what I want to talk about, which also seems like a good response to political stuff you don't want to talk about.

I seem to have the biggest mouth at The Institute and do the most talking, so I am leaving it to the dawgs at this juncture.

What do you guys want to talk about?