\n<\/p>\n
In the 1960s, the authors of one of the world\u2019s first popular compendiums of fun and interesting facts entreated readers not to mistake the \u201cflower of Trivia\u201d for the \u201cweed of minutiae.\u201d Trivia stimulates the mind, Edwin Goodgold and Dan Carlinsky wrote in More Trivial Trivia<\/em>; minutiae stymie it.<\/p>\n Happily, The Atlantic\u2019<\/em>s garden bursts with the former and is almost entirely lacking in the latter, and in this new project of daily quizzes, I get to share a bunch of that trivia with you, curious readers. So set down the Snapple cap and stop to smell the blooms\u2014is that geranium?\u2014with questions from recently published stories.<\/p>\n To get these questions in your inbox every day, sign up for <\/em>The Atlantic Daily.<\/em><\/p>\n From the edition of The Atlantic <\/em>Daily written by Tom Nichols:<\/p>\n What international sporting event occurred last weekend in New York, after happening most recently two years ago in Italy \u2026 and before that in Wisconsin \u2026 and before that in France (after Minnesota, after Scotland, after Illinois, etc.)? According to many commentators on the right, when progressives penalize wrongdoing, it\u2019s \u201ccancel culture\u201d; when conservatives do it, it\u2019s merely what other double-c phrase<\/strong> suggestive of an action\u2019s inevitable repercussions? Dealing as much with loss and grief as with physical monstrosity, what Victorian epistolary novel<\/strong> was referred to by its young author as her \u201chideous progeny\u201d? And, by the way, did you know that Transnistria, the Russia-aligned breakaway region of Moldova, is the only place in the world that circulates plastic currency? A friend visited recently (don\u2019t ask) and returned with some of these \u201ccoins,\u201d which are neither exchangeable back into other currencies nor accepted anywhere else on Earth, except\u2014and only sometimes\u2014by a few cross-border-bus operators back in Moldova proper. They do, however, make excellent bingo chips.<\/p>\n Until tomorrow!<\/p>\n Answers: <\/strong><\/p>\n The Ryder Cup. <\/strong>Sally writes that the biennial contest between U.S. and European golfers is a noisy affair even at its civilest and was bound to be particularly raucous once you packed in hundreds of thousands of born hecklers from across New York\u2019s boroughs and beyond. Read more.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \u201cConsequence culture.\u201d<\/strong> This is, for what it\u2019s worth, also what a lot of progressives call it when they themselves are doing it. Idrees worries that the self-excusing and hypocrisy is kicking off a spiral from which America will struggle to extricate itself. Read more.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Frankenstein.<\/strong><\/em> The echoes of Mary Shelley\u2019s novel bounce crystal-clear through all the instances Varese relates of grieving people trying to resurrect lost loved ones through AI\u2014a group that includes the writer himself. Read more.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n How did you do? Come back tomorrow for more questions. And if you think up a great one after reading an Atlantic<\/em> story\u2014or simply want to share a stimulating fact\u2014send it my way at [email\u00a0protected]<\/span><\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the 1960s, the authors of one of the world\u2019s first popular compendiums of fun and interesting facts entreated readers not to mistake the \u201cflower of Trivia\u201d for the \u201cweed of minutiae.\u201d Trivia stimulates the mind, Edwin Goodgold and Dan Carlinsky wrote in More Trivial Trivia; minutiae stymie it. Happily, The Atlantic\u2019s garden bursts with<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24811,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[994,1671,1226,831,14616],"class_list":{"0":"post-24810","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-social-issues","8":"tag-answers","9":"tag-atlantic","10":"tag-questions","11":"tag-todays","12":"tag-trivia"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Monday, September 29, 2025<\/h4>\n
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\u2014 From Sally Jenkins\u2019s \u201cGolf\u2019s Very Loud Weekend\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\u2014 From Idrees Kahloon\u2019s \u201cIlliberal America, MAGA Edition\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n
\u2014 From Jon Michael Varese\u2019s \u201cChatGPT Resurrected My Dead Father\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n