Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Ken Jennings Tuesday Trivia - August 12
THIS WEEK'S QUIZ
1. In 2006, who released the album An Other Cup, his first pop album since he changed his name in 1978? Cat Stevens. What is his name now - Yusef Lateef or something like that?
2. What war is commonly divided into the Edwardian, Caroline, and Lancastrian phases? The 100 Years War was long enough to be divided into phases
3. What scientific theory holds that the universe is made of one-dimensional objects vibrating in 10- or 26-dimensional spacetime? string theory
4. Baseball's Baltimore Orioles have retired uniform numbers 5, 20, and 42--all for players with what same last name? Robinson - Brooks, Frank and Jackie
5. What comes in four types: Classic, Touch, Shuffle, and Nano? iPod
6. What famed literary estate has been portrayed on screen twice by Yorkshire's Castle Howard, once in a 1981 mini-series and once in a 2008 film? Brideshead
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these letters of the alphabet, and no others? C, J, M, O, R, and V. I am very excited because I may have just solved this. These are letters of the NATO phonetic alphabet that are proper names - Charlie, Juliet, Mike, Oscar, Romeo and Victor. Once could argue that Sierra could also work, but otherwise this answer fits the question.
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. Who was known as Ras Tafari Makonnen before taking power in 1930? Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, still venerated today by the religion named for him, Rastafarianism. correct
2. What 11-letter word is a violation in basketball, but perfectly legal--in fact, a crucial skill--in ice hockey? Goaltending in the crease = good. Goaltending in front of the rim = bad. I am a moron for not coming up with that.
3. Big Diomede Island and Little Diomede Island, separated by the International Date Line, belong respectively to what two nations? The Diomede Islands belong to the U.S. and Russia--and are, at only 2.4 miles apart, the closest point between the two nations. yes, of course. I should have gone further north than I was thinking
4. Morels, puffballs, oyster, and wood ear are all types of what? Fungi--edible mushrooms, in fact. correct
5. What two cast members of Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction re-teamed to portray a married couple in a 2007 film? If you've been waiting since 1994 to see John Travolta and Christopher Walken reunited--and married!--then Hairspray is the movie for you. I had completely forgotten that Walken was in Pulp Fiction until I remembered Butch's watch. Then again I did not know he was in Hairspray either.
6. What century-old song ends, in English, with the line "We stand on guard for thee"? That's the end of the first (and, usually, only sung) verse of "O Canada." correct
7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these musicians? Sheryl Crow, Art Garfunkel, Bryan Ferry, Roberta Flack, Ezra Koenig, Kris Kristofferson, Gene Simmons, Sting. They were all schoolteachers, and David Lee Roth may or may not have been hot for them.
1. In 2006, who released the album An Other Cup, his first pop album since he changed his name in 1978? Cat Stevens. What is his name now - Yusef Lateef or something like that?
2. What war is commonly divided into the Edwardian, Caroline, and Lancastrian phases? The 100 Years War was long enough to be divided into phases
3. What scientific theory holds that the universe is made of one-dimensional objects vibrating in 10- or 26-dimensional spacetime? string theory
4. Baseball's Baltimore Orioles have retired uniform numbers 5, 20, and 42--all for players with what same last name? Robinson - Brooks, Frank and Jackie
5. What comes in four types: Classic, Touch, Shuffle, and Nano? iPod
6. What famed literary estate has been portrayed on screen twice by Yorkshire's Castle Howard, once in a 1981 mini-series and once in a 2008 film? Brideshead
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these letters of the alphabet, and no others? C, J, M, O, R, and V. I am very excited because I may have just solved this. These are letters of the NATO phonetic alphabet that are proper names - Charlie, Juliet, Mike, Oscar, Romeo and Victor. Once could argue that Sierra could also work, but otherwise this answer fits the question.
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. Who was known as Ras Tafari Makonnen before taking power in 1930? Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, still venerated today by the religion named for him, Rastafarianism. correct
2. What 11-letter word is a violation in basketball, but perfectly legal--in fact, a crucial skill--in ice hockey? Goaltending in the crease = good. Goaltending in front of the rim = bad. I am a moron for not coming up with that.
3. Big Diomede Island and Little Diomede Island, separated by the International Date Line, belong respectively to what two nations? The Diomede Islands belong to the U.S. and Russia--and are, at only 2.4 miles apart, the closest point between the two nations. yes, of course. I should have gone further north than I was thinking
4. Morels, puffballs, oyster, and wood ear are all types of what? Fungi--edible mushrooms, in fact. correct
5. What two cast members of Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction re-teamed to portray a married couple in a 2007 film? If you've been waiting since 1994 to see John Travolta and Christopher Walken reunited--and married!--then Hairspray is the movie for you. I had completely forgotten that Walken was in Pulp Fiction until I remembered Butch's watch. Then again I did not know he was in Hairspray either.
6. What century-old song ends, in English, with the line "We stand on guard for thee"? That's the end of the first (and, usually, only sung) verse of "O Canada." correct
7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these musicians? Sheryl Crow, Art Garfunkel, Bryan Ferry, Roberta Flack, Ezra Koenig, Kris Kristofferson, Gene Simmons, Sting. They were all schoolteachers, and David Lee Roth may or may not have been hot for them.
