#35 (FINAL DILEMMA)

This is it!

Telling a co-worker that he stinks by leaving an anonymous note?

or

Telling a co-worker that he stinks by telling him directly and in-person?

#34

...with my brain?

or

...with my heart?

Memorandum

TWO FINAL DILEMMAS ARE COMING SOON.

As I stated in an earlier post, my intention has always been to make this a seasonal game. Season one is almost complete. #35 will be the final dilemma. How long will I be on vacation? I don't know. A month...maybe two...maybe six.

Just to make it more interesting (sorry, Alex), I'm going to change the scoring scheme for #34 and #35: A correct answer will receive 3.5 points and an incorrect answer will receive -1 point.

The winner will receive two rewards: 1) A biographical post written by the Decider; 2) Authorship for three dilemmas next season (sorry, I still get to choose the answer). Runner-up gets authorship for one dilemma next season. Honorable mention gets an honorable mention.

The Decider

#33

Old World (e.g., Johann Sebastian Bach, Julius Ceasar, Ben Franklin, Leonardo DaVinci, William Shakespeare, Cleopatra, Galileo Galilei, Europeans in general)

or

New World (e.g., The Beatles, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Martin Luther King, Jr., Apple Inc., Creators of movies in the 20th century, Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Americans in general)

(Clearly this is a Eurocentric and sexist dilemma. It is not meant to offend. I'm just very ignorant.)

#32

Spring and summer?

or

Fall and winter?

Memorandum

Well hello DDers! After deep discussion with The Decider and other DD contributors last night, I have volunteered to be the Official Score Updater (or OSU for short, coincidence that I also went to OSU, Ohio State University... I think not).

Now I know this may pose a conflict of interest since I am also a point-earner and could potentially cheat my way to victory, but not only do I assure you that I am the most honest person you will ever meet in your life (besides maybe JB) you are more than welcome to keep score along with me with your own score-keeping method and I will accept the challenge.

The Decider has passed his scoring responsibilities, so I am to bare the brunt of any scoring complaints (or compliments) you may have.

Once I figure out how to actually update the score on the sidebar, I will do so (I have already added up the scores.. Alex is still winning).

I am honored to have been given this responsibility and I promise to be fair!

Sincerely,

Carla; OSU

#31

Survival in cold climate?

or

Survival in hot climate?

(stranded with extremely limited man-made materials and pretty uncomfortable, perhaps even dangerous, weather conditions)

#30

Appetizers?

or

Dessert?

#29

F***K!

or

S***T!

(The expletives, not the verbs. For the sake of those of us working for the federal government, please use * when using in comments )

#28

Going to the movies?

or

Watching television?

Memorandum

After hearing from several DDers, it has come to my attention that some have been posting comments based on assumptions about this "game" that are not exactly consistent with reality. To address these inconsistencies, I'm going to clarify a few things right now. Understand that I'm not inventing any new rules here; rather, I'm going to lay out some of the unspoken aspects of the decision process:

Although I usually carry a strong bias in every dilemma and, as the Decider, have exceptional knowledge in the areas chosen for debate, I am a reasonable guy and take your arguments quite seriously. In the first 25 posts, I made several decisions that were influenced by the arguments provided by DDers, especially dilemmas in which I did not have a strong bias. For example, despite his unprovoked anger, Carl's argument for The Stratospheric League of Colorful Bandits was brilliant and pushed me off the fence and into his camp. Alex's argument for Savings in a laughter account was also memorable. Each of you at one point or another has really made me think hard about my choices. Well done.

In the absence of any objective measure of truth, I hope that you will value my decision as a reliable and sacred judgment of reason. And when reason is unavailable or certain dilemmas rely heavily on subjective, and even arbitrary, preferences, please accept my judgment as the next best thing to truth. Why? Because I invented this game.

As you have observed, most of the dilemmas are based on both reason and subjective preference. When it is part of the equation, reason should not be ignored. Still, subjective preference can, at times, play a bigger role than reason. In some of these instances, you have chosen to base your decisions based on my preference in order to secure needed credits (e.g., see every one of Juan's comments) and that's OK. Just realize that I'm a mystery and acting on such speculation may not win you anything (e.g., see most of Juan's comments). Therefore, consider relying mostly on your own preferences and hope for the best.

On a separate note, I have developed a new, more reliable, more frequently updated score keeping method and will start it this weekend. Why? Because you deserve it and because Carla is very demanding. Also, I have the feeling Carl needs it in order to improve his self esteem.

Finally, as I have mentioned to some of you, I intend to make this blog seasonal, kind of like a sitcom season. Just to keep it interesting and fresh, I'm going to turn it on and off (with notifications, of course). I'm thinking of doing 50 posts at a time.

The Decider

#27

Delete?

or

Strikethrough (a.k.a. strikeout)?

#26

Woodwinds (e.g., clarinet, oboe, bassoon, flute)?

or

Brass (e.g., trumpet, trombone, euphonium, tuba)?

#25

Carefully planned?

or

Completely improvised?

#24

Man?

vs.

Woman?