Ah, the teeny tiny plastic pie pieces, the impossible entertainment trivia questions… can’t top playing a round of the classic board game, Trivial Pursuit. Thank you Canada for this fantastic timeless export.
By now of course they’ve got digital versions of this old-school trivia challenge. The game has its own iPhone ap and there is even a Wii version – how exactly Trivial Pursuit becomes some kind of remotely controlled video game, who knows.
Apparently the Wii game is (not surprisingly) a bust; “The lack of online multiplayer and the overabundance of geographic questions means there is little reason to play this version over any of the cardboard originals…” (Gamespot review). Amen. Or in other words, Trivial Pursuit for one person pretty much deceives the point of it all, no? Proving to everyone how smart you are.
- Wii Trivial Pursuit game. No thanks.
So think about pulling out that dusty navy blue and gold box from the bottom of the cupboard. It won’t hurt either that you’ve probably got about 10 more years of knowledge stacked up since the last time you played.
And now for some quick Trivial Pursuit questions to entice you even more… and think 1984 on this… the questions are fantastically dated in the older editions.
Q1. In what city was Bobby Kennedy assassinated?
Q2. What’s the capital of West-Germany? (Love this one!)
Q3. What is the biggest satellite orbiting the earth?
Q4. Where is Yogi Bear from?
Bringing Trivial Pursuit back into my life in recent months has not only improved my knowledge of what were once current facts in 1984, but brought a little geekiness and fun into Saturday’s at the in-laws where cross-generational teams has made it a successful after lunch tradition.
So dig up the ol’ Trivial Pursuit from out of the woodwork (and some people over 30) or just get a new one and bring the tradition alive again!
For those stuck with the answers to the above questions just at the tip of their tongues:
A1. Los Angeles
A2. Bonn
A3. The Moon
A4. Jellystone National Park
Logging off now.
LogMeOut 
Use it Wisely
Turkle’s interview inspired me to think once again about the whole philosophy of LogMeOut. There is no reason to shun technology for those that may question it’s negative influences on our lives, but rather a serious need to use it in the right places and balance its use with our non-technological selves.
Turkle says “I hate the metaphor of addiction: it implies we have to get it away, give it away, wean off. This is great stuff. It’s not heroin. It’s just something we need to learn to use when most appropriate, powerful, and in our best interest.”
Darn straight Ms. Turkle! It ain’t heroin that is for sure, though they don’t call it a “crackberry” for no reason. I think Turkle has it exactly right: where we falter is in failing to distinguish between good use and bad use of technology.
She says if you need to make a deal somewhere halfway across the globe like Abu Dhabi, there’s no reason that technology should not be used. But Turkle is against what she calls “a kind of technological promiscuity, where that technology, so perfect in [one] circumstance, is the technology you think is perfect for people to bring into a board meeting, when they need to be working on a problem together. In that case it’s not the technology of choice. They’re not physically present with the people they need to bond with and deeply connect with, and need to make very consequential decisions with.”
I sometimes find myself guilty of this very activity. Being so used to e-mailing across the globe, I often choose to e-mail people 40 or even 15 minutes away from me in an instance where the issue at hand would be more quickly resolved by speaking by telephone or meeting in person. E-mail trumps all, eh? Why is it? Because it’s easy? Fast? Free? The effort of face to face engagement is too tiring?
Turkle goes on to say she thinks “there are ways in which we’re constantly communicating and yet not making enough good connections, in a way that’s to our detriment, to the detriment of our families and to our business organizations.” Amen.
People can argue that Facebook and Twitter and all these things bring us closer together, but maybe all it does is connect us together. Being connected and being close are not the same thing.