A friend of mine told me they bumped into a famous singer. It got me thinking that those people probably aren’t famous because they are exceptionally better at singing than other singers compared to say a woodworker who is exceptionally better than other woodworkers. They’re famous because music is famous and the woodworker isn’t because woodworking isn’t famous. It has nothing to do with their relative skill in their profession. That thought actually made me quite happy with the thought that I could’ve met many people at the apex of their skill and I would just never know.

  • 🇨🇦 tunetardis@lemmy.caEnglish
    17·
    9 days ago

    I was at a used bookstore and there was this volume called the Who’s Who Almanac or something to that effect. I was shocked to find my dad’s name in there! He was an academic in a rather narrow discipline. I wouldn’t say he was a prolific publisher or had any major discoveries under his name, but he spoke numerous languages and was well-travelled. To be fair, the book was essentially a giant list of names and didn’t include bios or anything, so the bar might have been pretty low? But still…

    • CluckN@lemmy.world
      17·
      9 days ago

      I don’t want to shatter dreams but the Who’s Who Almanac was a vanity publication. They would include a colossal list of names and then email the “selected” winners asking if they want to upgrade their profile. You could buy a full page bio for the next year’s edition or buy other overpriced garbage. Found this article that gives a great summary about a guy who won it in high school.

      My uncle worked at a firm in the 90’s. One time they had two promising interviewees but couldn’t decide who to hire. They found one of the guys paid for a full page bio in the Who’s Who almanac and hired the other one.

      • 🇨🇦 tunetardis@lemmy.caEnglish
        7·
        9 days ago

        Oh man really? That’s hilarious! I’m glad Dad didn’t shell out for a big spread in there then. It was just his name and that’s it.

        This reminds me a bit of that shady outfit that was promising to have a star named after you for a price. I was taking astronomy at the time and some friends asked me about it. I said NO! Don’t even think about it. While there are way more stars in the Milky Way alone than there are people who have ever lived, astronomers are most certainly not in the business of naming them all. You can get a visiting comet named after you if you spot it first though.