Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Ken Jennings Tuesday Trivia - February 2
THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS
1. An expert in "areology" studies the minerals and landforms located where? a guess - Mars (isn't Ares the Greek god of war just as Mars was the Roman god of war?)
2. According to the song, when it's "Springtime for Hitler and Germany," it's winter for what other two countries? Poland and France
3. The two longest-running African-American cast members on TV's Saturday Night Live both shared what pair of initials? TM - Tracy Morgan and Tim Meadows
4. A recent study found that Pittsburgh, Tucson, Cincinnati, and Albuquerque are the four U.S. cities most likely to suffer what ignominious fate? ignominious means shameful, disgraceful, dishonorable. what would be a shameful fate - go bankrupt?
5. The march that Edward Elgar composed in 1901 for King Edward VII's coronation is today more closely associated with what kind of event? graduation ceremonies
6. Birds produce lots of lots of "guano," a valuable natural resource. Name either of the two types of mammals whose droppings are also called "guano." bats, definitely. what else?
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these U.S. presidents, and no others? Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, John Quincy Adams, William Henry Harrison, Buchanan, and Bush 41.
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. "Meerschaum" and "corncob" are two popular types of what item? Pipes. One is more Sherlock Holmes, the other is more Huck Finn. Both make you look AWESOME! (Kids: don't smoke, even if it looks awesome.) correct
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? Wow, Carl Sagan really embraced that whole "billlllions and billlllions" thing. Do you think he knew Carson was just making fun of him? correct
3. Who is the first Barbadian ever to win a Grammy Award? Fun fact: every single time the word "Barbadian" has ever appeared in Entertainment Weekly magazine, it's been a reference to Caribbean pop chanteuse Rihanna. I would probably do better on this quiz if I read EW. KJ seems to draw regularly from there.
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? Turns out it's a lot harder than it used to be to send out bulk mail promoting a magazine called "The Beaver." Don't laugh! Someday "bald eagle" will inevitably become some kind of homoerotic sexual euphemism and then it'll be Canada's turn to snicker AT US! Jerry Mathers' royalties for DVDs of his old tv show probably also are affected.
5. In 1957, at Runnymede, Surrey, the American Bar Association erected a monument to commemorate what? That's where the Magna Carta, a milestone in our modern conception of law, was signed in 1215. No idea why the ABA wanted to commemorate the, uh, 742nd anniversary of that event, but hey, who understands lawyers? correct
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 you heard of this new movie Avatar? With giant blue people or something. Anyway, the planet is called Pandora. correct
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. I'm no sports expert, but this seemed like an unusually easy Question Seven, especially this past week (if you're a bandwagon Saints fan). These are the teams that have never appeared in their sport's current championship game or series, ordered by the length of that drought. In just a couple weeks, the Saints can proudly scratch themselves on this list!
(Quick note here: I just noticed that the order above might be slightly off, in that the Rangers would be ahead of the Lions if you start counting with Super Bowl I in 1967, as I had intended. The Lions are only in first if you count back to 1958, the beginning of their NFL championship drought. Or maybe I should have left them off altogether since they appeared in five NFL championship games in the pre-Super Bowl era.) Correct, but if it is supposed to be all teams/franchises that have never appeared in a championship game, there are some missing - Minnesota Wild, Columbus Blue Jackets, Houston Texans, (new) Cleveland Browns (among others). These are the teams that have never appeared and have been waiting the longest.
1. An expert in "areology" studies the minerals and landforms located where? a guess - Mars (isn't Ares the Greek god of war just as Mars was the Roman god of war?)
2. According to the song, when it's "Springtime for Hitler and Germany," it's winter for what other two countries? Poland and France
3. The two longest-running African-American cast members on TV's Saturday Night Live both shared what pair of initials? TM - Tracy Morgan and Tim Meadows
4. A recent study found that Pittsburgh, Tucson, Cincinnati, and Albuquerque are the four U.S. cities most likely to suffer what ignominious fate? ignominious means shameful, disgraceful, dishonorable. what would be a shameful fate - go bankrupt?
5. The march that Edward Elgar composed in 1901 for King Edward VII's coronation is today more closely associated with what kind of event? graduation ceremonies
6. Birds produce lots of lots of "guano," a valuable natural resource. Name either of the two types of mammals whose droppings are also called "guano." bats, definitely. what else?
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these U.S. presidents, and no others? Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, John Quincy Adams, William Henry Harrison, Buchanan, and Bush 41.
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. "Meerschaum" and "corncob" are two popular types of what item? Pipes. One is more Sherlock Holmes, the other is more Huck Finn. Both make you look AWESOME! (Kids: don't smoke, even if it looks awesome.) correct
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? Wow, Carl Sagan really embraced that whole "billlllions and billlllions" thing. Do you think he knew Carson was just making fun of him? correct
3. Who is the first Barbadian ever to win a Grammy Award? Fun fact: every single time the word "Barbadian" has ever appeared in Entertainment Weekly magazine, it's been a reference to Caribbean pop chanteuse Rihanna. I would probably do better on this quiz if I read EW. KJ seems to draw regularly from there.
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? Turns out it's a lot harder than it used to be to send out bulk mail promoting a magazine called "The Beaver." Don't laugh! Someday "bald eagle" will inevitably become some kind of homoerotic sexual euphemism and then it'll be Canada's turn to snicker AT US! Jerry Mathers' royalties for DVDs of his old tv show probably also are affected.
5. In 1957, at Runnymede, Surrey, the American Bar Association erected a monument to commemorate what? That's where the Magna Carta, a milestone in our modern conception of law, was signed in 1215. No idea why the ABA wanted to commemorate the, uh, 742nd anniversary of that event, but hey, who understands lawyers? correct
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 you heard of this new movie Avatar? With giant blue people or something. Anyway, the planet is called Pandora. correct
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. I'm no sports expert, but this seemed like an unusually easy Question Seven, especially this past week (if you're a bandwagon Saints fan). These are the teams that have never appeared in their sport's current championship game or series, ordered by the length of that drought. In just a couple weeks, the Saints can proudly scratch themselves on this list!
(Quick note here: I just noticed that the order above might be slightly off, in that the Rangers would be ahead of the Lions if you start counting with Super Bowl I in 1967, as I had intended. The Lions are only in first if you count back to 1958, the beginning of their NFL championship drought. Or maybe I should have left them off altogether since they appeared in five NFL championship games in the pre-Super Bowl era.) Correct, but if it is supposed to be all teams/franchises that have never appeared in a championship game, there are some missing - Minnesota Wild, Columbus Blue Jackets, Houston Texans, (new) Cleveland Browns (among others). These are the teams that have never appeared and have been waiting the longest.
