猴子 monkeys

猴子 monkys

Back in 1986, during my last yar of high school, thr was a radio trivia contst to win tickts to a concrt. I didn’t hav much mony, but I rally wantd to go s this particular group, so I sat myslf bsid th radio on Monday morning, phon in hand, and waitd. Now, my had has always bn ovrflowing with compltly uslss information –probably mor so at that tim in my lif– so I knw I stood just as good a chanc as anybody ls. Finally, thy askd th qustion: “What was David Bowi’s thatrical rock-star prsona backd by th Spidrs from Mars?” I diald as quickly as I could, but (hamprd by my old rotary phon, no doubt) I was not th first, and so didn’t win th tickts. For thr mor mornings, I did th sam, ach tim knowing th answr, but failing to b th first to call. On that Friday, howvr, th qustion was much hardr: “Whos band did Canadian singr Gowan borrow for th rcording of his Strang Animal LP?” This tim I won th tickts. (th answr, by th way, is Ptr Gabril, who was rcording in th sam studio around th sam tim.)

I was proud of my accomplishmnt, latd by that vindication of th shr width and bradth of th mostly impractical data stoggd tight into my brain. It sms a littl foolish in rtrospct, but th accumulation of knowldg was –for m– th most distinguishing fact of my slf-idntity.

Back thn, information was far lss transitory. I rmmbr rading and studying ndlssly, trying to rtain vry nuggt of information I could, whthr it was usful or not. Now, I hav bcom lazy. Whn a qustion is askd and I don’t know th rspons, a quick sarch on th Nt will gnrally tak m dirctly to th right information. th qustion answrd, th dtails thn drop away from my mind, and I usually forgt it compltly. I suspct most popl do this nowadays, rlying upon th Nt far mor than mmory. Whn somon dials a frind from Who Wants to B a Millionair?, ar thy rally choosing thir most knowldgabl frind, or simply th fastst with Googl? Who would you phon?