Last night, writing a check for some groceries, I asked "What's today?" (Being a SAHM, I often forget what the date is.)
"November 23," said the cashier.
"Ah yes," I said, completing the check. "Karen's birthday. And the day after the anniversary of Blackbeard's death."
Kevin nudged me in the back with his elbow. "Don't bore the poor guy with your useless trivia."
"Died in 1718 after being killed by the boarding party of the HMS Pearl," the clerk winked at me. "Of the coast of Ocracoke, North Carolina. He was decapitated."
Somewhat surprised, I continued, "After being stabbed and shot over 25 times."
"Maynard mounted his severed head on the bow of the Pearl."
"And his body was rumored to have swam around the Pearl three times before at last sinking beneath the waves."
Kevin, glancing back and forth between the two of us, shook his head. "Great. Two fonts of entirely useless knowledge."
Posted by tisfan at November 24, 2004 11:56 AM::giggle::
I think it's cool. (Penny, in the back of my head, is someone dubious... after all, that's her Da's archtype.)
No trivia is *entirely* useless. That's one thing I've learned as a librarian. If it's out there, *someone,* somewhen, will want to know.
Posted by: Gris on November 24, 2004 03:00 PMYeh, but you know what Gris?
That someone is usually a complete wackjob.
:)
Posted by: Jeremy on November 24, 2004 06:37 PMI love those moments where I run into complete strangers who share my bizarre tastes.
Posted by: Greg on November 26, 2004 04:00 PMYes, well, Jeremy, over the weekend I fielded the (completely sincere, the patron really wanted to know) reference question, "Has any human being ever been born with two brains in one head?" So my tolerance of odd questions is understandably a bit higher than most folks'.
(By the way, the answer is, to the best of my research ability, "no." There are incidences of people with severe epilepsy having their corpus callosum, the bundle of nerves that the connects left and right sides of the brain, severed (but that's two halves, not two brains). There are congenital defects of the brain such as anencephaly, where a baby is (usually still-) born without a brain, and megalencephaly, where the brain is abnormally large, but nothing I could find indicated more than one brain developing inside the same skull. (These, btw, are really good reasons to take your folic acid and not drink excessively during pregnancy.) The brain's not too tolerant of extra stuff sharing its space.)
Posted by: Gris on November 29, 2004 10:41 AM