Trivia Time

So you've got a BA. Maybe even a postgraduate degree. Years of schooling, in many subjects, most of which you don't use in daily life. What do you do with all this knowledge floating around your brain?
Well, if you're at all like me, you do crossword puzzles, you listen to the Puzzle Master Presents with Will Shortz every Sunday on Weekend Edition and the Car Talk puzzler on Saturdays, and Wait Wait Don't Tell Me if you're also a news junkie, or Says You! when you want to realize how little you actually know. I think one of the ultimate signs of irredeemable geekdom is not only Carl Kassel's voice on your answering machine, but being excited about it. (And if it wasn't a hugely expensive long-distance call for me, and I actually knew how to access my voice mail, I would try every week. I mean, Carl Kassel.)
You probably also love Trivial Pursuit. And not the stupid versions they've been coming out with for the past few years, that are almost entirely about TV shows and pop stars and Brangelina. No, you love the original editions, Genus I, the great general knowledge games. But thank god for the Internet. I've found plenty of sites with trivia games and assorted quizzes, and I love them. Many are poorly designed, or don't have enough questions to warrant return visits, but I just found a great one for those who really want to test themselves. It's called Quick Quiz, and it's a tough one. Five questions, on any topic, and you have to get them all right to post a message on the Glory Wall. Why do you want to post a message on the Glory Wall? Well, you probably don't, but it's frustrating when you can't because you didn't know who wrote an 19th century French absurdist play. And when you do, finally, get all five correct, it justifes all that random liberal arts knowledge floating around your brain. I actually was able to figure out a geometry question about parallelograms, and I really never thought I'd use that info again. So check it out if you have some spare time, though you should be careful: each quiz only takes a minute, but you may find that posting a Glory Wall message becomes much more important than doing actual work.