The Pop Pirate

The Straight Dope

I love trivia. It seems like a broad area of interest, but hey- so is film. For whatever reason, filling my head with useless facts, only to file them and spout them out at opportune moments, to the great annoyance of friends and family. The thing about trivia, though, is that you usually can't pick up a whole lot of it in one place short of reading Trivial Pursuit cards (not that anyone would ever do that...)

Enter Cecil Adams. He's billed as the world's best reseacher, and he lives up to that in his column, The Straight Dope. This column has been published, primarily in Chicago, since the 70s, and is anthologized on his website. The concept: people ask questions, Cecil answers. The catch: the questions he choses to answer are often the most obtuse, obscure inquiries a trivia hound could dream of. And the guy is freakin hilarious.

From the classic and controversial "Why do pigeons bob their heads?" to a wonderfully indepth anaysis of "Is fanning yourself energy-efficient?" the articles are as intriguing as they are irrellevant.

Another section of the site is called Threadspotting, where you can access some really amusing discussions from the Straight Dope community. I don't usually have the patience for reading through discussion board, but these are some true commedians. If you want to read about the legality of buying souls, or great movie quotes with the word "underpants" in them, or really want a good belly laugh- this is the place.

All Hail Cecil!

posted by Jeff @ 8:45 PM