In an effort to showcase the broad character of Denver's diverse populace, Westword's own Ben Dayton is doing random interviews with random Denver residents about random topics, randomly. Today he interrupted Jeremiah Michael Attridge, on a break from his work as a Labor Specialist with the Colorado Department of Labor, to chat about the important issues of the day. What follows is their conversation concerning age-old philosophy and the true meaning of the word "dingbat." WW: What's your favorite thing about Denver? JMA: I really can't think of one, actually. I lived on the Western Slope for twenty years, and they shut my office down, so I had to leave Telluride and come down here to work.

WW: So, nothing, huh? Fair enough. How long have you been here? JMA: Fifteen years.

WW: Doing this work for fifteen? JMA: Yes.

WW: Do you have a favorite beer? JMA: Grolsch.

WW: Nice. Good choice. What's your favorite place? JMA: My favorite place? My home, I guess.

WW: What is a dingbat? JMA: Well, I don't want to bring my ex-wife into this.

WW: Who was Voltaire? JMA: Oh, the great French philosopher. Wrote the book Optimism, more commonly known as Candide.

WW: Why? JMA: Why? To refute Leibniz's philosophy of the best of all possible worlds. It's basically a mockery of all Monarchian philosophies.

WW: What's next? JMA: What do you mean, what's next?

WW: I mean, what's next? JMA: What, with Voltaire?

WW: With anything. JMA: Oh, with me? I don't know...I'm working on writing a bluegrass album.

WW: Very cool. And what do you play? JMA: I play a Guild D-25. It's a six-string dreadnought guitar.

WW: Well, that's everything, unless you have anything else you'd like to say. JMA: Nope.