Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Ken Jennings Tuesday Trivia - January 26
THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS
1. "Meerschaum" and "corncob" are two popular types of what item? pipes. C'mon, Ken. How about delving a little deeper into this pastime? How about a question about latakia and perique?
2. Whose last book was Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium, which became a posthumous science bestseller in 1997? Carl Sagan
3. Who is the first Barbadian ever to win a Grammy Award? was Harry Belafonte from Barbados?
4. What's the name of the official magazine of Canada's National History Society, to be renamed "Canada's History" in March because spam filters tend to block the current title? No idea. Was this a yahoo news story that he read? Lord, you can be really creative about what the spam filters might not like. I wonder if it is an offensive acronym, something like Canada's U-something National Treasures.
5. In 1957, at Runnymede, Surrey, the American Bar Association erected a monument to commemorate what? the signing of the Magna Carta
6. What figure from Greek myth is the namesake of a popular Internet radio service as well as the setting of the film Avatar? have not seen the movie yet, but Sirius is a popular Internet radio service. Wait - it's Pandora. Is that a radio service or a music service?
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these teams in the four major North American professional sports, listed in this order? Detroit Lions, Texas Rangers, New Orleans Saints, Washington Nationals, L.A. Clippers, Phoenix Coyotes, Denver Nuggets, Seattle Mariners, New Orleans Hornets, San Jose Sharks. Finally a Q7 where I recognize a pattern. These are all sad sack teams (or continuations of sad sack franchises like the Montreal Expos and the Washington Senators and the Buffalo Braves). I believe that these are the most frustrated teams in sports, having been in their current league the longest without playing for a championship (the Lions won several NFL championships but they were long before the 1970 merger with the AFL). Wonder if KJ meant to remove the Saints.
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. What historic African city is home today to neighborhood called the "Hannibal district"? Hannibal (aka "the elephant guy") was from Carthage, so we accepted either that answer, or Tunis, the modern metropolis of which Carthage is now just a suburb. correct
2. What have "Warriors in Pink" survived? Breast cancer, according to the omnipresent marketing campaign. correct
3. Of the four Olympic track and field "throwing" events, what's the only one that's not part of the modern decathlon? The discus, javelin, and shot put are all decathlon events, leaving only the lowly hammer throw. Please, hammer, don't hurt 'em. correct
4. What TV sitcom won three straight Outstanding Lead Actress Emmys in the 1980s...for three different actresses? The Golden Girls is the only show ever to accomplish this feat. In fact, the show's fourth star, Estelle Getty, won a Supporting Actress Emmy in 1988, meaning that the show's entire cast earned Emmys within that three-year span. correct
5. What plant does copra come from? Copra, the meal that is a staple of many tropical diets, is dried coconut meat. according to wikipedia, copra is primarily used to extract coconut oil and as an animal feed. It also can spontaneously combust. Sounds like a great basis for a diet.
6. What was the last name of Jack Donovan, the Universal Studios sound editor who revolutionized the art of post-recording environmental sound effects in movies? Today's "Foley artists," who add the footstep sounds and whatnot to modern movies, are named for Jack Donovan Foley. correct
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these musical acts, joined in 2008 by Coldplay and Fleet Foxes? Alice Cooper, Crash Test Dummies, Marvin Gaye, Guns N' Roses, New Order, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the Pogues, Procul Harum. Each released an album that used a classic fine-art painting as its cover. Coldplay's Delacroix homage and Fleet Foxes' use of Breughel recently joined those Latour flowers on the Power, Corruption, & Lies cover, the Winslow Homer painting on Southern Accents, and so forth. Did you know that the Use Your Illusion covers by G&R are details from Raphael's The School of Athens? Hey, me neither. KJ, I looked at all of the New Order albums in Allmusic. Which one had a cover that used a fine-art painting?
1. "Meerschaum" and "corncob" are two popular types of what item? pipes. C'mon, Ken. How about delving a little deeper into this pastime? How about a question about latakia and perique?
2. Whose last book was Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium, which became a posthumous science bestseller in 1997? Carl Sagan
3. Who is the first Barbadian ever to win a Grammy Award? was Harry Belafonte from Barbados?
4. What's the name of the official magazine of Canada's National History Society, to be renamed "Canada's History" in March because spam filters tend to block the current title? No idea. Was this a yahoo news story that he read? Lord, you can be really creative about what the spam filters might not like. I wonder if it is an offensive acronym, something like Canada's U-something National Treasures.
5. In 1957, at Runnymede, Surrey, the American Bar Association erected a monument to commemorate what? the signing of the Magna Carta
6. What figure from Greek myth is the namesake of a popular Internet radio service as well as the setting of the film Avatar? have not seen the movie yet, but Sirius is a popular Internet radio service. Wait - it's Pandora. Is that a radio service or a music service?
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these teams in the four major North American professional sports, listed in this order? Detroit Lions, Texas Rangers, New Orleans Saints, Washington Nationals, L.A. Clippers, Phoenix Coyotes, Denver Nuggets, Seattle Mariners, New Orleans Hornets, San Jose Sharks. Finally a Q7 where I recognize a pattern. These are all sad sack teams (or continuations of sad sack franchises like the Montreal Expos and the Washington Senators and the Buffalo Braves). I believe that these are the most frustrated teams in sports, having been in their current league the longest without playing for a championship (the Lions won several NFL championships but they were long before the 1970 merger with the AFL). Wonder if KJ meant to remove the Saints.
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. What historic African city is home today to neighborhood called the "Hannibal district"? Hannibal (aka "the elephant guy") was from Carthage, so we accepted either that answer, or Tunis, the modern metropolis of which Carthage is now just a suburb. correct
2. What have "Warriors in Pink" survived? Breast cancer, according to the omnipresent marketing campaign. correct
3. Of the four Olympic track and field "throwing" events, what's the only one that's not part of the modern decathlon? The discus, javelin, and shot put are all decathlon events, leaving only the lowly hammer throw. Please, hammer, don't hurt 'em. correct
4. What TV sitcom won three straight Outstanding Lead Actress Emmys in the 1980s...for three different actresses? The Golden Girls is the only show ever to accomplish this feat. In fact, the show's fourth star, Estelle Getty, won a Supporting Actress Emmy in 1988, meaning that the show's entire cast earned Emmys within that three-year span. correct
5. What plant does copra come from? Copra, the meal that is a staple of many tropical diets, is dried coconut meat. according to wikipedia, copra is primarily used to extract coconut oil and as an animal feed. It also can spontaneously combust. Sounds like a great basis for a diet.
6. What was the last name of Jack Donovan, the Universal Studios sound editor who revolutionized the art of post-recording environmental sound effects in movies? Today's "Foley artists," who add the footstep sounds and whatnot to modern movies, are named for Jack Donovan Foley. correct
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these musical acts, joined in 2008 by Coldplay and Fleet Foxes? Alice Cooper, Crash Test Dummies, Marvin Gaye, Guns N' Roses, New Order, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the Pogues, Procul Harum. Each released an album that used a classic fine-art painting as its cover. Coldplay's Delacroix homage and Fleet Foxes' use of Breughel recently joined those Latour flowers on the Power, Corruption, & Lies cover, the Winslow Homer painting on Southern Accents, and so forth. Did you know that the Use Your Illusion covers by G&R are details from Raphael's The School of Athens? Hey, me neither. KJ, I looked at all of the New Order albums in Allmusic. Which one had a cover that used a fine-art painting?
