The best teacher is someone who knows something about the topic without knowing everything. If they know everything, they use insider language and forget what it's like not to know anything.

Likewise, a good ambassador is someone who understands what it's like to be an insider and an outsider at the same time.

That's me! I have never been to Moot before, but being a sort of outer level thinkling, I have been around enough to maybe translate it for the rest of the world.

You see that strange annual event known as "moot" is going to happen tonight and I predict that there will be a moot post tonight, and probably several over the next 24 hours. So never fear dear readers. As one who has never been, but stands on the outside looking in, so I'm with y'all, but I have what you all don't have...a standing invitation (which hopefully won't get revoked after this post.) I just can't be there. One of these days....

So in honor of my friends who will be mooting with out me, I will attempt to explain the unexplainable to the rest of us.

What is Moot?
It is the annual meeting of the original thinklings in the Houston area. It is the apotheosis of male bonding - complete with cigars, non-alcoholic beer, and steak on the grill. It usually happens around Christmas.

Why do they call it Moot?
The OT's (Original Thinklings) share a love for Tolkien and so their annual guy-fest is named for the meeting of the Ents in "The Two Towers." Ents are large tree-like people who are very slow and their meetings, called "Ent-Moots" take a very long time. By human standards, the OT version does too. They start in the evening. (Say 7pm and go all night. Yes, all night. Moot doesn't end until they go to IHOP (International House of Pancakes) the next morning.

Oh and by the way, none of them even remotely resembles an Ent. Though they may resemble some other creatures from Middle Earth, gentlemanly decorum demands that I not say which ones.

Is Moot a noun or a verb?
It's both. Noun - "Hey, when is moot going to be?
Verb - "Let's moot!"

Who will be there?
Tonight it will be: Bill Roberts, Jared Wilson, Mark Miranda, Andrew Roberts and whoever else is lucky enough to be on the guest list.

What will they do?
Talk, smoke cigars, make inside jokes, grill steaks outside in the cold, talk about you, and somehow make a record of their event. I don't know if they will post video, audio, pictures or what. But believe me, they'll make a record of it somehow.

If I hear or watch the posted record of Ent-moot, how can I understand what they are saying?
Good luck with that. But here are some tips:

They will make jokes about one of their own named "Blo" and say he doesn't exist.

They will say some things "go hard". That means they like it. (Don't ask me where it came from. I assume it has a perfectly reasonable explanation.)

Watch out if Jared announces that he's "curious" about something. That means he's milliseconds away from changing his point of view.

They will laugh a lot. But hey, so would you if you were there.

So get ready folks. I don't know what's coming on the blog, but since I won't be able to attend, I figure I'll lay low on the site for the next 24 hours or so, because the Moot-ers will take it over. Of that, I'm sure.

Have a great moot guys. Smoke one for me.