Liberal Talk Radio

No 15 minutes here — Ken Jennings has a blog*! And it’s pretty interesting, showing that maybe you do need to be extra smart to succeed at Jeopardy:

The British love trivia (one in ten Britons self-identified as a “quizaholic” in one recent survey) but my sense is their nomenclature is a little different from ours (and if I’m wrong, I hope a British reader puts down his steak-and-kidney pie, pops in his monocle, and writes in to inform me). The word “trivia” has been in use in the UK ever since the Trivial Pursuit fad of the mid-80s, but most hardcore players refer to their pastime as “quizzing.” I’m not entirely crazy about the word “quiz,” since it makes trivia sound about as fun to me as seventh-grade algebra, but I like the idea that there might be two separate words: one for the concept of trivia (the enjoyment of odd facts, and questions about them) and another for quizzing (a specific, public, competitive game built largely on trivia). The difference between “trivia” and “quizzing” is sort of like the difference between “stamps” and “philately,” or “caves” and “spelunking.”

Then there’s snark Ken:

Posting this from Sun Valley, Idaho, where I’m speaking at a thingy. Sun Valley may be located in the second ugliest state of the union (sorry, Wyoming!) but it’s actually quite scenic up here.

Then there’s Where-did-THAT-come-from? Ken:

Is it just me, or are Sam Raimi and R.E.M.’s Peter Buck rapidly becoming the same person as they get older?

*Remember him? The Ken Jennings Drinking Game?

[Link via.]