Getting Wikilled

I like to think that I have some worldly knowledge. After all, I’ve been through 22 years of formal schooling, plus 2 or 3 years of extensive pre-schooling preceding that. (I was awesome in pre-school, by the way. As long as you don’t ask me to finger paint. That’s the art of Cretans right there.) I don’t try to blow people away with the things that I know, but I’m fairly confident that if you pick me for your Trivial Pursuit team, I’m not going to let you down.

(Assuming the Sports and Leisure questions are more the former and less the latter. Who the hell cares about Leisure anyway? Domino enthusiasts? Lawn dart aficionados?)

Since I rarely have the forum to prove my trivial abilities (triviabilities), I figured we’d use today’s post to prove that, for lack of a better term, “I know stuff.” And how are we going to go about doing this? Easy. With the magical wisdom that is Wikipedia.

You see, if I asked you people to toss out topics for me to identify, there’d be a bit of bias there. For the most part, those who frequent YAB are friends and acquaintances. And there’s a good chance you got to that post by having things in common with me. Interests, hobbies, whatever. Anyways, your brain probably pulls from the same cache of data that mine does, so there’s a good chance that whatever you ask, I know by default. Because of this, I must level the playing field and show you what I know. I’ll just hit the Random Article button on Wikipedia and see what comes up. I bet you I’ll know something about 7 out of 10. That’s a passing grade, and proof that I can be an asset to your Quizzo team.

And – BOOM! The article is “Harold Ramis.” Ha! 1 for 1. Aside from being a star and writer of one of my Top 5 All-Time Comedies (Ghost Busters), Ramis also wrote Animal House anddirected Groundhog Day. The man can write the funny. Ok, not a bad way to start. This is going to be easy. Next!

“Jul med Hep Stars” Umm…says here it’s a “1967 Christmas album from the Swedish pop group Hep Stars. Can’t say this one’s on my iPod. It’s nice to see they cover the classics like White Christmas and Jingle Bells, but I hear that the hidden gem on that album was “Johanssons Boogie-woogie vals.” Like, for shoord! Next!

“Nixa, Missouri.” If there were ever a Trivial Pursuit question involving Nixa, MO, it says here that it would be that Matt Damon’s real Bourne Identity is that his real name in David Webb and he was born here. Hell, even I don’t remember that. 1 for 3. Moving on…next!

“OfficeMax.” Heck yeah, I know OfficeMax. As my company’s preferred office supply vendor, I’ve got a catalog right here on my desk. On the cover is a guy pushing a hand cart overflowing with various paper and desk products. And yet, there’s a trail of paper clips left on the floor in his wake. I know it’s supposed to represent their mammoth selection and quantity, but I wonder. Why would you hire a guy who doesn’t even notice when he drops paper clips on the floor? 2 for 4, baby! Next!

“Zydeco.” Wow. It’s hot in here. The heat from this hot streak is too much! Yes, zydeco is a Creole-based music that calls New Orleans its home. If you need an audio clue, it was the music that Fox insisted on using EVERY time the Eagles game went to commercial Saturday. Yes, we get it, you’re in New Orleans. But couldn’t at least play the Green-Day-U2 joint once? I love that song. Let’s see, we’re 3 for 5. I just have to go 4 for 5 to make that mark. And next!

“Alethea Kontis”? Who?
“Caloosahatchee culture”? What?
“Fort White Public School Historic District”? Where?
“Battle of Seattle (1856)” When? Oh, right, 1856. Ok then. Why? (other than the fact it rhymes)

And finally, we have everybody’s favorite Faculty of Industrial Engineering & Management, The William Davidson Faculty of Industrial Engineering & Management at the Technion. It’s in Israel. Of course.

Ok, so maybe this was a bad idea.

Pick me anyway, I’ll ace the hockey questions.