Trolling through the quagmire of fan favorite postings on the Dr. StrangeJob site, the Doctor encountered a most troubling comment relating to his use of “obscure” references. Obscure! That will simply not do. Obscure does not sell books, and what a vague, opaque, ambiguous, unintelligible and arcane comment. This needed to be addressed, so I immediately contacted Professor Irwin Corey, otherwise known as the World’s Foremost Authority.

Obviously, in seeking guidance from the World’s Foremost Authority, the Doctor would glean the answer to his soul-searching question: Why does the Doctor use obscure references? Actually, that’s a two-part question. The first part of the two-part question is “Why”. To be clear, the answer to “Why” is rather complex and likely beyond the technical constraints inherent in a typical blog posting, or, for that matter, beyond the limitations imposed on the mind of the average blog writer. This is not to say there are no definitive answers to that most befuddling question. In fact, the most non-obscure answer to “Why” can be found in Mark Kurlansky’s seminal book entitled What? However, if Kurlansky’s answer is too esoteric, then perhaps the world’s newest foremost authority, Wikipedia, can enlighten the reader to the meaning of why.

What was the question again?

The second part of the two-part question is, “Does the Doctor use obscure references?” The answer to this part of the question is a no-brainer: Yes, the Doctor does use obscure references. However, the intent was always to use more less-obscure references and less more-obscure obscure references – the “I can look it up if I really give a shit” type of obscure reference, as compared to the WTF kind of obscure reference – more or less.

On second thought, perhaps the Doctor does not use obscure references. Take this blog entry for example. The Doctor references the World’s Foremost Authority, a book, Youtube, and Wikipedia. Not to mention ending with a poem that makes reference to a world famous author.

Incidentally, Professor Irwin Cory celebrated his 101 birthday on July 29, 2015. Happy belated birthday. Check here for his lecture on Why.

The Raving
Poe poe pitiful me,
raving raving for evermore,
tis just a wind bag,
only obscure and nothing more.

‘Nevermore’ quoth the Doctor,
obscure he shall quote no more,
raving raving for nevermore,
quoth the Doctor ‘Nevermore’.

Dr. StrangeJob

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