Useless But Compelling Facts

Back by popular demand, our trivia contests are starting up again . .. for the uninitiated, here’s how it works.

At the beginning of each week, I will post question or conundrum – a puzzlement – generally based on some obscure tidbit of information.  In other words, a perfectly useless, but absolutely compelling (and hopefully fascinating) fact.

I confess it’s getting harder to find anything obscure with anything and everything available through the World Wide Web (thanks a lot Sir Timothy Berners-Lee) but I’ll try.  Besides, some of the questions requiring multi-part or fully complete answers are going to be tricky.

Your objective is to get the correct, complete and precise full answer and get it to me by email (@ Joe Rosenbaum) first.  At the end of the week, I will post the answer, along with the name and affiliation of the person who got me the complete correct answer first.  Now there are some basic rules I will follow:

  • First, if you prefer not to have your name or affiliation posted, let me know in your submission and I’ll leave it out if you win;
  • Second, you MUST put UBCF as the very first item in the SUBJECT line of your email to me when answering.  I reserve the right (and a table at my favorite restaurant) to disqualify any person, entry, submission and their successors and assigns from winning if you don’t have UBCF first in the subject of the email;
  • Third, if I am unavailable at the beginning or end of the week for some reason, I’ll post the questions or the answers or both on a different day; and
  • Fourth, if you or your answer are void, restricted, prohibited by law, avoid any contact with skin and eyes and consult a physician right away – oh, and don’t enter because it won’t count;
  • Last, but not least, if there are any rules I’ve forgotten, I am likely to make them up along the way.  Sorry. My trivia contest, my rules.  Besides, the only prize you can hope for is recognition. Then again, if nothing is obscure on the World Wide Web  anymore, you may just become famous or, based on this last rule, I may decide to award you a prize. You just never know!

Enjoy the fun and thanks for playing along,

The Editor