January 4 is #NationalTriviaDay. Are you up to the challenge?
[Q. In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass [1] how does the Hatter answer the riddle, "Why is a raven like a writing desk?"]
This relatively new holiday, celebrated annually on January 4, may owe its origins in the ecard sites of the early Internet, but trivia has been a national passion since at least the 1960s, when college students began to challenge each other in informal, and later formal, trivia contests.
Today the Interent will be awash with random facts and quizzes, but if trivia is your passion, then we can recommend a few places to get your fill all year long.
Mental Floss [2] is one of our favorite magazines, available online or in a jam-packed print edition [3] each month at your library. Their quiz collection [4] of movie, tv and seasonal trivia will have you typing like mad to beat the buzzer. Or you can check out their 54 Fantastic Facts for National Trivia Day [5].
Book lovers can visit the Never-Ending Book Quiz [6] at Goodreads, where you can answer a literally endless stream of questions submitted by fellow readers. Some are easy, some terribly hard, but you can keep challenging yourself as long as you like. If you have a Goodreads account, you can keep a running tally of how well you are doing, or add your own questions [7] to the pool.
Ready for more random quizzes? Head to sites like FunTrivia [8] - which bills itself as the world's largest trivia website - and AbsurdTrvia [9], or download an app like TrviaCrack [10] or MovieCat [11] (movie trivia presented by cats) to your smart phone or device.
Whatever small random trivia is your game, you are sure to find something fun to keep your mind sharp. May you have a fact-filled and informative day!
[A. "I haven't the slightest idea."]