Musings of a Dead Parrot

THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS
1. The early edition of a newspaper is nicknamed for what breed of dog? this sounds like real trivia. Probably a one word dog breed, not German shepherd or cocker spaniel. How about a beagle.
2. Of the 32 teams in this year's World Cup, what's the only one that's not also a member of the United Nations? North Korea, dear leader
3. Henry Winkler is the godfather of what Hollywood leading lady? Erin Moran? But I would not characterize her as one of Hollywood's leading ladies. Maybe he was friends with John Voight and became Angelina Jolie's godfather.
4. What river is navigated by the seven boats known as "Maid of the Mist?? Niagara River
5. What kind of animal--the only cephalapod with an external shell--lent its name to the principal setting of a classic French novel of 1869? cephalapods are mollusks like octopi and squids. French novelists --> Zola, Hugo, Jules Verne! Nautilus (a cephalapod?) --> 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea
6. Kaiser Wilhelm, the German emperor during the First World War, was the first grandchild of what famous woman? Seems to me that I have heard this before. Queen Victoria
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these U.S. states, listed in this order? Texas, Alabama, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Alabama, Arizona, Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois. Did KJ mess this up? Alabama is listed twice. Is one supposed to be Arkansas? Is this a sports question? Or a river/miles of shoreline question?

LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. According to the Social Security Administration, what first name set a record in 2008 by jumping from the #12,535th most popular baby name all the way up to #2,409? "Barack" made the biggest jump in Social Security history. (It's taking all I can do not to make some "white names can't jump" joke here...) correct
2. Who did Carl Denham bring back from Skull Island? King Kong. Spoilers: he was happier on Skull Island. correct
3. What Austrian physicist proposed his namesake "effect" in his 1842 treatise "On the Colored Lights of the Binary Stars and Some Other Stars of the Heavens"? That was Christian Doppler--the Doppler effect or shift occurs when motion changes the frequency of a light or sound wave, as with the colors of starlight or (more likely) as the sound of ambulance siren approaches your apartment. correct
4. The chemical symbols for bromine and barium appear prominently in the logo of what TV series? So it's got to have "Br" and "Ba" in it, and it has to be aabout chemistry...got it! The Brady Banch! No wait. It's Breaking Bad. correct
5. Outside of the U.K., what's the world's largest island where English is the official language? Okay, this question got horribly misphrased somewhere along the line, so we disallowed it. No matter what you wrote ("Staten Island," "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," "38") you got credit. I think the correct answer is technically Canada's Baffin Island as phrased here, but--just to show you how badly I garbled the phrasing, the intended answer was actually Jamaica! correct enough
6. What's the more common name for the historical event that the Lakota called "the Battle of Greasy Grass Creek"? The Battle of Little Big Horn, aka "Custer's Last Stand." How did he stand at all, what with all that greasy grass around? correct
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these pop acts? All-4-One, Cascada, Ray Charles, Whitney Houston, Janis Joplin, Pet Shop Boys, Helen Reddy, Social Distortion. All scored big hits with covers of country songs. I actually like the Pet Shop Boys version of "Always on My Mind" as much as I like the Willie Nelson one which, yes, makes me a total philistine. Wait a minute. Me And Bobby McGee is not a country song. Ray Price? Country. Kris Kristofferson? Not country.