Musings of a Dead Parrot

THIS WEEK'S QUIZ
1. In 2000, who became the only two-time Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year? Eldrick "Tiger" Woods
2. What two U.S. states have capitals named for people who were executed?
3. What did the Electro String Instrument Corporation change its name to, to capitalize on a distant relationship between its founders and a World War I hero?
4. Which knight of King Arthur's Round Table is Sir Lancelot's son?
5. Who appears, in front of a landscape of a different nation entirely, on New Zealand's five-dollar note?
6. What's the only city to twice host a season of MTV's The Real World?
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these actors? Alan Arkin, Emilio Estevez, Henry Fonda, Ian Holm, Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman, Peter Ustinov, and John Wayne.

LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. At what city's university, in 1745, did Pieter van Musschenbroek invent the world's first capacitor by coating a glass jar with metal foil? At the University of Leyden, which is why we still call this invention the "Leyden jar."
2. What musician was born in 1965 as Richard Melville Hall? Moby came by his middle name honestly: he's actually the great-great-great-great-nephew of Moby-Dick author Herman Melville.
3. What's the only former Soviet republic that still calls its secret police the KGB? Only totalitarian Belarus still misses the good old days. Ah, yes. The other totalitarian former republic besides Uzbekistan.
4. What NHL team's theme music is an Aram Khachaturian composition? No, you weren't really supposed to know this. But you might know from cartoon-watching that Khachaturian wrote the "Sabre Dance," which might make you think of the Buffalo Sabres. yea! I got one correct (with a little help)
5. What's the most common color of Reese's Pieces, almost two-thirds again as numerous as the other shades? Most Reese's Pieces are orange--much fewer are yellow and brown. I'll give myself credit for this since I only knew of those orange, peanut-butter colored pieces
6. What was studied by Project Blue Book? This was the Air Force's look at UFOs, finally shut down for lack of evidence. Or so they *expect* you to believe. Nothing intutive about that. Why "Blue Book"?
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these TV series? Cagney & Lacey, Columbo, James at 15, Kojak, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Love Boat, The Six Million Dollar Man, and The Waltons? Each originated as a TV movie--and not just those 90-minute pilots that passed for TV movies in the 1970s, but a real standalone TV movie that was such a hit that it got a spin-off series greenlit.

No trivia the last two weeks while KJ was on vacation.

THIS WEEK'S QUIZ
1. At what city's university, in 1745, did Pieter van Musschenbroek invent the world's first capacitor by coating a glass jar with metal foil? this name sounds Flemish. At least the spelling of Pieter makes me think of Holland or Belgium. But I have no idea what university. There are a lot to choose from.
2. What musician was born in 1965 as Richard Melville Hall? that's not Marilyn Manson, is it?
3. What's the only former Soviet republic that still calls its secret police the KGB? I'll guess Uzbekistan since it is still very represssive
4. What NHL team's theme music is an Aram Khachaturian composition? Since there are tons of Russian players across the NHL, it does not help me guess to think of a team with a prominent Russian player. Probably has something to do with the title of one of Khachaturian's works. So I looked him up. Sure enough - Sabre Dance. Buffalo Sabres.
5. What's the most common color of Reese's Pieces, almost two-thirds again as numerous as the other shades? Reese's Pieces come in colors? I only thought they came in that peanut butter orange-brown
6. What was studied by Project Blue Book? cheating on college exams
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these TV series? Cagney & Lacey, Columbo, James at 15, Kojak, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Love Boat, The Six Million Dollar Man, and The Waltons?

PREVIOUS QUIZ ANSWERS
1. What's the only football team to have appeared in six BCS bowl games since the system's 1999 debut--though they've only won once? Florida State is the unhappy team. correct
2. What man's catalog of work is indexed by "K-numbers"? Mozart's compositions, which were definitively catalogued by one Ludwig von Kochel. K 1a is a little harpsichord andante that Mozart wrote at the tender age of five. one of those you know or you don't - nothing there to help one guess
3. What world nation is, according to its official name, a "Hashemite Kingdom"? The ancient Hashemite dynasty still rules Jordan.
4. Who invented the Thanatron and the Mercitron? Those were the life-ending machines used by Dr. Jack Kevorkian.
5. Amethyst, jasper, onyx, chalcedony, and amethyst are all just varieties of what mineral? The second most common mineral on Earth: quartz. (Obvious typo up there: the second "amethyst" was meant to be "agate.") correct
6. What actor has been Oscar-nominated for playing two different U.S. presidents? Anthony Hopkins played John Quincy Adams in Amistad and Nixon in, well, Nixon. correct
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these songs? "American Woman" by the Guess Who, "Glamorous" by Fergie, "Hollaback Girl" by Gwen Stefani, "I'm Back" by Eminem, "I'm Henry VIII I Am" by Herman's Hermits, "Lola" by the Kinks, "Safety Dance" by Men Without Hats, and "Turn On Me" by the Shins. All feature a spelled-out word in their lyrics (a la Gwen's "B-A-N-A-N-A-S"). it would have helped if one of the clues had been Gloria

Well, almost.

Win Butler and Regine Chassagne joined Bruce and the band onstage at the tour stop in Ottawa. Bruce and the E Streeters even paid them the ultimate compliment - they played an Arcade Fire song during the encore. Check out the video here .

October 6th, 2007 - a day I will never forget. Stanford's monumental win over 41 point favorite USC. I missed it to attend Jessica and Paul's wedding. But the real shocker arrived in my in-box that morning. Mom told us all that she had a serious blood disease that turned out to be leukemia.

More on Mom later. I need to compose myself and my words. I also want to wait and see how her treatment goes.

For now, I want to write about Stanford football. Stanford may not win another game the rest of the year, but this one will still resonate for a long time. I think that the magnitude of the win will diminish as USC is shown to be a flawed team. But Stanford's accomplishment is still phenomenal. Here is what I wrote on the New York Times blog:

Look up the phrase “long suffering” in the dictionary and you will find a picture of Stanford fans. This is not only a reflection of the last five years (16 wins and 40 losses). Stanford has one of the best and longest legacies in college football. No Pac 10 team other than USC has played in more Rose Bowls. Stanford’s history includes several of the greatest coaches and players ever. There have been many memorable victories. In my four years, we beat #3 Oklahoma in Norman and #1 Washington and tied one of the all time great USC teams in 1979 (it felt like a win). But the history is also littered with stunning losses to seemingly-outmanned opponents (usually San Jose State) and what seem like countless heartbreaks as we snatch defeat from the gaping jaws of victory.

Yet these rollercoaster experiences are what bond us to Stanford football. Philip Taubman’s essay certainly captured the essence of my emotions on Saturday. It was extra special because it was USC. My gosh, we once went 16 years without beating those guys. I love the phrase “you take victories like the one on Saturday and set them in mental amber.” This one is embedded for life for me. At least for this week, everything is all right now.

A Proud Stanford Graduate

I also love these post-game reflections - MizzouCard on Stanford's win

And this terrific video of the post game celebration - Stanford 24 USC 23, October 6, 2007