Useless Trivia - 1st one to answer gets to ask

I think the problem lies in the use of the word "best." It involves a value judgement and a choice of perspective: best for you or best for the penguin? Why is your cat mad at you? My cat never stayed mad at me for more than a few hours. But really, I don't think cats get mad. They may become afraid if you hurt them or they think you hurt them. If the cat is acting aggressively it probably feels threatened. If it's avoiding you it may be ill. Or maybe it has a guilty secret.

My understanding is that the letters were laid out entirely at random. But I'll bet there are several spurious explanations around. We may have to resort to Snopes (which I have not consulted yet on this matter) to settle it. This I know:

There were in the early days several competing keyboard layouts from different manufacturers of early typing machines. ("Typewriter" referred to the machine's operator in the early days.) It happened that one typist (or typewriter) was very good, and demonstrated great speed. Her machine thus became popular, since the public mind associated her skill with her choice of machine.

I am not certain, however, of why that particular maker chose the qwerty layout. As I said, I think it was random. I don't think it was to slow down the typist because in the early days I doubt if there were very fast typists yet.

Of course it's a trick question. Gold is normally measured in Troy weight. If you use this system, an ounce of gold is a bit heavier than an ounce of feathers, while a pound of gold is a bit lighter than a pound of feathers.

However, if you use the same scale to measure both, then the feathers and the gold are the same weight, ounce for ounce and pound for pound.

Now I'll ask one (an easy trivia question): Why did I wake up 45 minutes ago? (roughly 3:30 a.m. local time.)

 

QWERTY keyboards, which first appeared on Remington typewriters in the 1870s, were indeed a patented arrangement designed to slow typists and prevent key jamming. I use this example of "hard technology" in some of my introductory classes.

Why would you wake at 3.30 am? I'll assume you don't have a medical condition or weak bladder, so perhaps you recently returned from a trip east where the time is later than your current time zone?

 

Actually if you want to get technical it was not the keys getting stuck it was the strikers. If 2 strikers next to each other went up at nearly the same time, they would jam. Now since the strikers are attached to the keys, the keys did get stuck also, but that was a side effect.

The QWERTY was designed to ensure that the most common strikers were not near each other, this was in fact to speed up the typing process, not slow it down. Jammed strikers significantly reduced productivity.

 

Nope. There's an actual trivia here, though it's a rather trivial trivia.

I like this explanation best.

FWIW, my sister types so fast that old-fashioned electric typewriters could not keep up with her, and they slowed her down. The first typewriter that let my sister type her real speed was the IBM Selectric, which used a type ball, so there was no possibility of jamming, and I think it had enough memory that if it lagged slightly behind it could keep going and catch up any time there was a pause. She's 63 now and I don't know if she types as fast as she did when she was younger. When computers finally came along typing speed and jamming were no longer problems.

 

Sam: He's not made at you. He's afraid of you. Apparently he finds the flea stuff really really nasty.

I did ask a question. See above. Post # 81. Last line.

 

I will accept your answer, although I was looking for a kinder, gentler way of putting it. Stepping on its foot isn't the BEST way, but touching its foot is. :first:

 

Because you were done sleeping?

 

I cannot think of a hint that would not completely give it away, so I'll wait at least 24 hours (possibly more, since I might not wake up that early tomorrow morning) before giving the answer. If it's really driving you nuts, shut off your computer and read a book for a while. I recommend Sam Harris: The End of Faith.

 

P.S. Sam: P.M. me your phone number. I'll call you. If you agree to come visit me for a week in Spokane at my expense, I'll tell you the answer.

 

Ok, I'll venture a guess too, since my trivia knowledge is obviously not trivial enough to know the details of Daniel's life (other than his hand-cranked punch card reading organ, his swimming with dolphins, his disdain for organized religion, his electric car, his Prius, his longing to share his vast untold fortune with a buxom lass... you know... but those things are obviously not trivial, so don't fall in the category of trivia):

Because your neighbor has a deranged rooster which crows a couple hours before sunrise each morning?

 

None of the above is the answer. I'll give the answer later today if nobody gets it this morning.

 

I'll guess some celestial event. The transit of Mercury was a couple of weeks ago - the rise of the full moon? Jupiter?

And I have to ask: Is this the new PriusChat dating thread?

 

The answer is very simply that old people cannot sleep as long as younger people. That's the trivia. Very trivial trivia indeed. At my age, if you go to sleep early (because, being old you get tired early) you're quite likely to find yourself wide awake at 3:00 a.m. Sometimes if I get up and play at the computer for a while, or better yet, read a book, I'll be able to go back to bed and fall asleep again.

Nobody got it right.

 

I thought I did! I said you were done sleeping. Doesn't that count as correct?

 

No, because the correct answer was the trivia: That old people sleep fewer hours.