Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Ken Jennings Tuesday Trivia - September 16
Note from Ken Jennings - Given a choice between a question on an old familiar topic and a fact I've never heard before, I can't help but choose the Cool New Thing. And sometimes that makes the questions harder, because it might also be new to you. I'm gambling that it's still more fun to hear something new--and maybe get it right, maybe not--than to hear the same old same old that you hear every other week in bar trivia, or in some mass e-mail of trivia "facts" from your grandma. So I guess what I'm saying is: sorry if these are hard.
THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS
1. In the chemical name THC, the 'C' stands for a derivative of what word? tetra hexa something or tri hexa something. Doesn't it have to be a derivative of carbon?
2. What '90s pop star became, last week, the first African American since Charley Pride to crack the top spots of the country charts? candidates - Brandy, any of Destiny's Child (Kelly Rowland, Beyonce Knowles, whoever the third member is)
3. What kind of organization is classified by groups like the Union Triad, the Miami Triad, and the Lexington Triad?
4. What U.S. state name is sometimes spelled with an okina? is that the symbol that appears over the last "i" in Hawaii? I guess Hawaii.
5. Infinite Jest, the masterpiece of late novelist David Foster Wallace, is titled for Shakespeare's description of what character?
6. Backwards in High Heels is a new musical about what 1930s actress? Ginger Rogers (with an assist from Ann Richards)
7. Based on the unusual distinction they all share, what U.S. president could be added to this list of famous names? Julie Andrews, Charles Dawes, Mohamed ElBaradei, Peter Gabriel, John Jay, Bob Pettit, Alfred Lord Tennyson, and Dick York. Dick York is the giveaway - they were all succeeded in a role or honor by someone with the same first name.
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. What Sunshine Biscuits product, discontinued in 2003, has returned to grocery shelves this year for its 100th anniversary? Hydrox is back, y'all! And remember: Oreo (b. 1912) is the rip-off, not Hydrox (b. 1903). this would be a good question 15 at O'Briens
2. Two science fiction films, from 1983 and 1984, share their titles with two different names for the dividing line between day and night on the surface of a planet. What are they? The Twilight Zone and The Terminator. who knew that dusk was also called the terminator - http://sos.noaa.gov/datasets/Land/day_night.html
3. What country has produced pop bands like Roxette, the Hives, and the Cardigans? As someone pointed out, many countries have produced bands LIKE them. But only Sweden has produced bands exactly like them.
4. On August 15, 1914, the cement steamer SS Ancon became the first ship ever to do what? Make an official transit of the Panama Canal. I tried to find out how much toll the Ancon would have paid for the privilege, in hopes of making the question easier, but I couldn't find a number. correct
5. Who dated Iola Morton and Callie Shaw? The Hardy Boys. Did you know Iola was killed by terrorists in 1987? No kidding. Car bomb. I think that officially ended my childhood.
6. What bay, for whom a recent newsmaker was named, is the easternmost arm of the Bering Sea? Young, fecund Bristol Palin is named for the salmon fisheries of Bristol Bay. I needed a clue about the newsmaker. Not that it would have helped. I probably would have guessed Willow Bay.
7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these people? Beethoven, Kobe Bryant, Jennifer Connelly, Catherine Deneuve, Clint Eastwood, Thomas Jefferson, James Joyce, and Jackie Kennedy. They all speak Italian...or, to forestall the smart-alecks complaining that this isn't an unusual distinction in a world with 60 million Italians, "they all speak Italian as a second language." I tried to pick celebrities for whom you could guess their Italian-speaking even if you didn't go to high school with them. Kobe famous took questions in Italian during the Olympics, Beethoven wrote opera, Joyce lived in Rome, Catherine Deneuve has a daughter by Marcello Mastroianni, Clint recently translated for Ennio Morricone when he received his lifetime Oscar, etc. obscure and un-interesting
THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS
1. In the chemical name THC, the 'C' stands for a derivative of what word? tetra hexa something or tri hexa something. Doesn't it have to be a derivative of carbon?
2. What '90s pop star became, last week, the first African American since Charley Pride to crack the top spots of the country charts? candidates - Brandy, any of Destiny's Child (Kelly Rowland, Beyonce Knowles, whoever the third member is)
3. What kind of organization is classified by groups like the Union Triad, the Miami Triad, and the Lexington Triad?
4. What U.S. state name is sometimes spelled with an okina? is that the symbol that appears over the last "i" in Hawaii? I guess Hawaii.
5. Infinite Jest, the masterpiece of late novelist David Foster Wallace, is titled for Shakespeare's description of what character?
6. Backwards in High Heels is a new musical about what 1930s actress? Ginger Rogers (with an assist from Ann Richards)
7. Based on the unusual distinction they all share, what U.S. president could be added to this list of famous names? Julie Andrews, Charles Dawes, Mohamed ElBaradei, Peter Gabriel, John Jay, Bob Pettit, Alfred Lord Tennyson, and Dick York. Dick York is the giveaway - they were all succeeded in a role or honor by someone with the same first name.
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. What Sunshine Biscuits product, discontinued in 2003, has returned to grocery shelves this year for its 100th anniversary? Hydrox is back, y'all! And remember: Oreo (b. 1912) is the rip-off, not Hydrox (b. 1903). this would be a good question 15 at O'Briens
2. Two science fiction films, from 1983 and 1984, share their titles with two different names for the dividing line between day and night on the surface of a planet. What are they? The Twilight Zone and The Terminator. who knew that dusk was also called the terminator - http://sos.noaa.gov/datasets/Land/day_night.html
3. What country has produced pop bands like Roxette, the Hives, and the Cardigans? As someone pointed out, many countries have produced bands LIKE them. But only Sweden has produced bands exactly like them.
4. On August 15, 1914, the cement steamer SS Ancon became the first ship ever to do what? Make an official transit of the Panama Canal. I tried to find out how much toll the Ancon would have paid for the privilege, in hopes of making the question easier, but I couldn't find a number. correct
5. Who dated Iola Morton and Callie Shaw? The Hardy Boys. Did you know Iola was killed by terrorists in 1987? No kidding. Car bomb. I think that officially ended my childhood.
6. What bay, for whom a recent newsmaker was named, is the easternmost arm of the Bering Sea? Young, fecund Bristol Palin is named for the salmon fisheries of Bristol Bay. I needed a clue about the newsmaker. Not that it would have helped. I probably would have guessed Willow Bay.
7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these people? Beethoven, Kobe Bryant, Jennifer Connelly, Catherine Deneuve, Clint Eastwood, Thomas Jefferson, James Joyce, and Jackie Kennedy. They all speak Italian...or, to forestall the smart-alecks complaining that this isn't an unusual distinction in a world with 60 million Italians, "they all speak Italian as a second language." I tried to pick celebrities for whom you could guess their Italian-speaking even if you didn't go to high school with them. Kobe famous took questions in Italian during the Olympics, Beethoven wrote opera, Joyce lived in Rome, Catherine Deneuve has a daughter by Marcello Mastroianni, Clint recently translated for Ennio Morricone when he received his lifetime Oscar, etc. obscure and un-interesting
