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RG43.4 where do good ideas come from?

October 23rd, 2007 by dk

It’s amazing what you can gather if you don’t care where it came from. I’ve been astounded lately about where what I notice good ideas have come from. Most often: casual conversation with people I don’t know very well. People I don’t know at all usually get a predigested conversation from me and I can only guess I’m getting the same from them. People who I know very well, we focus what we talk about on ever-more-narrow topics, since those are subjects that allow us to bore down deeply, given our history and mutual interests. But in between is where I find the most original ideas that are the most widely useful. Neighbors, associates, friends-of-friends. Two examples, no three (each deserving their own column): parking garages as outdoor markets, the word we can’t abide in the city’s”world’s greatest” slogan, and why the Pacific Northwest is natural habitat for “foodies.”

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One of these four ideas will be developed into a column on Wednesday to be published in The Register-Guard on Friday. I’m asking you to help me choose between them. Between now and the end of Tuesday, leave comments here or send me an e-mail if you’d rather be more private. Or, at the very least, RATE the idea (and the others) so I know which one people like best. No promises, though. This ain’t American Idol. But I will post an entry on Wednesday to say which one I’m choosing (and probably why.) I plan to do this each week — often by Friday, but always by Monday, so visit often and tell me which idea intrigues you the most. Thanks!

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  • 1 Ben Oct 23, 2007 at 9:16 pm

    if the Pacific Northwest is really a natural habitat for foodies…well, it gives me another reason to move out there after I graduate. Here in Rochester, the signature dish is the “garbage plate.” And I’d be very interested to know other cultural implications of having so many foodies…