Musings of a Dead Parrot

THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS
1. Hiccups are caused by spasms of which muscle? Is the pharynx a muscle? Or is that the passageway? It is something in the throat but I cannot think of any muscles there.
2. What uniform number did NFL All-Pro Chad Johnson begin wearing in 2001, his rookie year? Ocho cinco - 85
3. What does the United Nations observe every spring equinox, though the rest of the world celebrates it a month later? Earth Day
4. What 1678 literary work begins in the City of Destruction and ends in the Celestial City? sure sounds like Paradise Lost. Unless it is Pilgrim's Progress. But I suspect that John Bunyan wrote that later than 1678.
5. What state is the site of the only World War II land battle fought on U.S. soil? assuming that KJ means US soil at the time of the battle, this is not Alaska or Hawaii. I like this question even though I am not sure of the answer. For some reason, I think of New Jersey. A submarine got trapped and the Germans came ashore perhaps?
6. What award-winning 2009 film changed its name to avoid confusion with another movie, the superhero flop Push? Precious perhaps? But the name of the book on which it was based was also Precious. How about The Hurt Locker. Push could mean detonation or the urgency to defuse.
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these TV series? Accidentally on Purpose, Dexter, Eight is Enough, The Flying Nun, Gossip Girl, Homicide, The Six Million Dollar Man, Sex in the City, True Blood, The Unit. Richard Belzer was in all of them. No? It just seems like he is in everything. If this is something about the theme song or the credits or something, then I will give up now.

LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. A framboise beer is fermented using what kind of fruit? "Framboise" is French for raspberry. I should have remembered from the ice cream flavors at Berthillon (except that I always went for miel nougat).
2. The second- and third-longest rivers in Africa each have two nations named for them. Name both rivers. Niger and Nigeria are both named for the Niger, and the Congo lent its name to the Republic of Congo and, uh, some other kind of Republic of Congo. correct
3. The 2009 romantic comedy (500) Days of Summer ends with its protagonist putting the past behind him by asking out a girl with what first name? Joseph Gordon-Levitt finally gets over Summer when he meets Autumn. correct
4. What corporate move have Accenture, AT&T, and Gatorade all recently made? They all dropped Tiger Woods as a spokesperson...for some reason or other. I haven't really heard much about it. correct
5. Who ruled alongside her son Caesarion for the last fourteen years of her life? Caesarion was the son of Cleopatra...named after his father, I guess. Or his favorite kind of salad. correct
6. If a cell has a flagellum, what does it use it for? Getting around. The flagellum is the thrashing tail-like thing that some cells (spermatazoa, for example) use for locomotion. correct
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these languages, and no others? Chinook Wawa, English, French, Greek, Hawaiian, Italian, Latin, and Spanish. These are the eight languages you'd need to speak to understand the official mottoes of all 50 U.S. states. My home state of Washington has the awesome Chinook motto, by the way: "Alki," meaning, more or less "Manana." The laziest of all state mottoes! close, but not quite