Have you ever wondered what was going through Decartes’ mind in the final few minutes before he opened his mouth and “Cogito ergo sum” popped out? Was he picking up his laundry? Reading a comic book? Trying to get a recalcitrant bit of pear skin out from a crack in his molar?

Ditto for Francois Rabelais when he was about to say, “Nature abhors a vacuum.” Was he being literal? Was he cross because he’d spent the previous evening cracking and eating shelled peanuts and the living room carpet was a mess and his vacuum cleaner wouldn’t work?

No.

Really thinking. Thinking hard, complex thoughts — and drawing conclusions that no one in history had ever concluded before!

I suspect, in both cases, these Thinkers were involved in, ahh, thinking.

not a case of someone wondering whether to get a single- or double-Whopper and, out of nowhere, a profundity escaped.

This was 

And yet … that is precisely what happened to me a few hours back. “Do I want one beef patty or two?” I pondered — and thence, from some mystical place, completely unbidden, came something utterly unique in Human Thought. To wit:

"Radiohead’s In Rainbows is their best album."

I blinked, owlishly, staggered at the observation, and was barely able to make it over to the fountain cola stand to fill my cup with ice and diet soda.

"In Rainbows is their best album!" I spoke the words aloud, sounding it out. By God, it resonated!

And, all these minutes later, I think I’m right!

Kid A. Ditto OK Computer and Amnesiac. Not so much Hail to the Thief but that’s just me.

Yes, yes … I know. There’s a lot to be said for

In Rainbows five times in the last two days.

And so: I have spoken. I have also listened to

Would you care to weigh in?