Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for May 23, 2020

Must be where you ask about a camera obscura.

Before Jeopardy became simply a formulaic gimmick where you had to append “What is” in front of what was obviously an answer to what was coyly a question, the technique was used to describe somebody who was so well informed that he or she could be strolling thru a cocktail party, overhear what was obviously the answer to a question, and immediately intuit what the question must have been. Example: thing overheard = “29,002”; question inferred = “What was considered to be the height of Mount Everest before 1955?”

Shouldn’t the reference desk be hard to find? The reference desk could have hidden stairs and a basement.

Reminds me of Gary Larson’s “Inconvenience Store” Far Side toon (I mean that as a compliment)

Rai of Lowani. Lowani under two moons.

the devil’s dictionary is a pretty obscure reference…

The Map is not the Land.

Some thing is on the corner of the desk is either going up, down, or eating. The guy eyeballing the laptop on the floor may have a clue, but I do not.

A. Doo wah ditty ditty dum ditty dooQ. What’s at the bottom of a Doo wah ditty ditty dum ditty cage?

Not finding the obscure referencer, simply ask information for the location of the shelves marked recondite (probably near the all the books shelved under abstruse).

For when you need to find stuff by Dennis Miller.

RSR – reminds me of a conference I attended and most people’s badges had 12345 on it. Someone was wondering what it meant. Another people said, “The zip code for SCHENECTADY NY.” He was correct, but the numbers actually referred to which meals people had paid for. I found out later that the zip code guy had been working for the USPS his whole career.

Me! Me! Hire me for that position!

LOVE that the obscure reference librarian is hiding behind the desk on the bottom right!!! Missed it for a few then couldn’t stop smiling. Hee hee hee

Oh, to be able to walk into a Library again

There are times when we could use an obscure reference desk here at GoComics.

Wouldn’t it be nice to simply find an OPEN library!?

Crayons ready for tomorrow?

I was a huge fan and user of the Reference Desk at the library. Those that worked the desk were mostly a joy to work with because they loved their jobs and really wanted to help. I use Google a lot now, but miss the human interaction.

Here’s an obscure reference: “Who’s the old man?” “It’s Paul’s grandfather.” “He’s very clean.”

I have to say that librarians are as adept at answering obscure reference questions as they are at answering straight-forward queries. Don’t forget that librarians are the original Search Engine. Of course I may have a vested interest in the profession …

I’ve always been a fan of the Obscure Reference.