Yes, yes, I've been alluding to this for weeks, now. Yet no information has been forthcoming, and December now reaches the halfway mark. Yet, last year's invite-only festival of lollygagging and goldbricking was already well underway by this time.

"So, hop to it, monkey-boy", is what I hear you (or the red lectroids inside my head) saying. Not so whip-smartly, there! Y'see, now that we're deep in the mire of the so-called holiday season, the Wombat realizes that some of you may in the coming couple of weeks actually be flying hither and yon to visit loved ones or trusted business associates.

So, after careful deliberation and a shot of Old Overholt, the editorial staff has decreed that this year's factoid festival will in fact be next year -- that is, in January. That's right: get your frontal lobe fired up for the 2005/2006 Wombatfile CranioCarnival. Some vital information about this very nonvital event below:

• What Kind of Expertise is Required? None. Or, rather, the sort of mentally ominvorous command of cultural, historical, and scientific knowledge-lit e that can be regularly observed in the composition of our regular Friday timewasters. A look at the Round 1 Questions for last year's folly may prove illuminating.
• Who May Participate? Anyone who submits via email an answer to Question One in Round One. This is not an invitational tourney (as was last year's) but open to all who dare enter the lists. (We have it on good authority that reigning champion Soren fears no living man -- and only six living women, all of whom reside, thankfully, deep in the Caucasus mountains, where Internet access is spotty at best.)
• When Will You Finally Get this Show on the Road? The first round of QUESTIONS will be posted on January 2, 2006. The afflicted will then have until 12:01 AM EST on Thursday, January 5 to email in their answers.
• How Many Rounds? Four rounds this time, instead of three, with two being subject-specific rounds (the subjects will not be announced ahead of time) -- plus one "lightning round" to allow for some late-in-the-game wild card action.

• How Will Answers Be Accepted and Scored? As in last year's event, once each round's questions are posted, a first deadline is set for emailing in answers. Correct answers received by the deadline receive full points (point values at stake will be posted with the questions). Half-credit is possible for a half-right answer. At the first deadline, a set of clues will be posted, to assist the mentally laggard, and a second deadline of a day or so later will be given. This allows anyone who had no idea about the question to begin with to make an educated guess. Correct answers posted by the second deadline receive half-credit. And yes, if you are half-right after the second deadline, you do receive 1/4 credit. I am nothing if not a hairsplitter.

• Will This Be Any Fun? Are you kidding me? It's loads of fun. Possibly more fun that anything else you could possibly do in January that doesn't involve a plane ticket to ...OK, really, it's not that much fun. But it's a lot better than renting the DVD of Wedding Crashers or cleaning out the utility closet or writing that painful chapter of your memoir that gets into the whole "tax fraud" issue. So, really, come on, what have you got to lose?
  

Now that we have that out of the way, I can attest that there will be a Friday Quiz this week, and possi-probably one on December 23rd. But the Quiz will take Dec. 30 off, in preparation for the grand combat to come, and because of houseguests.