I’d like to start by welcoming all the new followers who have joined me since I was Freshly Pressed on Friday. The cat post was cute and fun and the WordPress editorial staff demonstrated excellent taste by selecting it.
Of course, I think most (if not all) of my posts would be good choices for Freshly Pressed. I hope my new followers will soon grow to agree with me.
Nevertheless, I should extend one minor warning: this blog is not always cute. One of my long-time followers recently marveled at how I can find a way to be offended at anything; I do my best to keep my fans happy.
That said, it’s time for me to go nerdy because I happen to be a nerd. And being a nerd, I am often accosted by a game called Trivial Pursuit. For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, it’s a trivia game where players recall random and often insignificant facts in a race to demonstrate who’s more intelligent.
And whose brilliant idea was this?
Once upon a time, Ugg and Oog were sitting in their cave. They had grown weary of explaining the philosophy behind the aesthetic dimensions of mammoth dung.

Yes, that’s supposed to be a mammoth. Aren’t you glad I chose this suggestive picture instead of the photo of real elephant poop? (Photo credit: Johnbod)
But then, as now, someone had to be the leader. Unfortunately, Ugg and Oog weren’t the type who liked hitting each other with blunt objects to prove their manhood… so the obvious solution was out. And they couldn’t compete on the quality of dung explanations because there was no way to judge the comparative merits of their theories.
What are a couple of cavenerds to do?
Simple. They decided to quiz each other on the specific contents of mammoth dung, focusing on what plant and animal remnants could be found during each month of the year. Their answers could be objectively correct or incorrect and they could verify questionable responses by waiting for the appropriate month and finding a not-so-constipated mammoth.
Of course, this extended their playing time by several years. Since the winner could lay claim to being called the most intelligent, they considered the wait worthwhile.
And this tradition continues to this day. Groups of people spend an eternity rummaging through a mammoth pile of dung just to prove to others how “smart” they are. It’s such a trivial pursuit.
Blogger’s note: I do own a version of the game and I play it on rare occasion. If I’m lucky, I get to play on a team with someone who knows about Justin Bieber and all that intelligent stuff.