Musings of a Dead Parrot

THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS
1. The late scientist Rosalind Franklin has sometimes been called the"Dark Lady of" what molecule? I don't know Rosalind Franklin or what she studied. Was she a physicist? Biologist? Astronomer?
2. Who was the only artist to have a Billboard #1 single during every year of the 1990s, the only time an artist has every accomplished this during an entire decade? the successful artists throughout the decade seem to be females - Mariah Carey, Madonna, Christina Aguilera. I'll guess Mariah Carey
3. America's most visited national park is named for what mountain range? Great Smokey Mountains
4. What famed political dynasty is currently led by the former Sonia Maino of Lusiana, Italy? In what country does this political dynasty exist? Political dynasty - I think of the Bushes, Perons, etc. Does Sonia Maino lead the Medicis? Or the Borgias? Or the Guggenheims or Rockefellers?
5. The top four most highly-paid players in major league baseball today all play for what team? NY Yankees - ARod, Texiera, Sabathia, one other
6. In what country did the popular melted-cheese dishes of fondue and raclette originate? Switzerland
7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these films? Fahrenheit 451, Kick-Ass, Minority Report, Return of the Jedi, Sleeper, Thunderball.

LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. What TV series has featured eight regular characters named Thomas, including James Frain as Thomas Cromwell, Sam Neill as Thomas Wolsey, and Hans Matheson as Thomas Cranmer? If you're like me, you might remember some of these names from a ninth-grade Western Civ class. If you're not like me and get Showtime, you might remember them from various seasons of The Tudors.
2. What kind of consumer product was long made from the "Manilkara chicle" tree of Central America? Chicle is the (now-replaced-by-synethics) stuff that makes chewing gum chewy. correct
3. What 2010 film was based on the best-selling book Between a Rock and a Hard Place? It's one of those VERY LITERAL titles: this was Aron Ralston's book about being trapped under a boulder while hiking in Canyonlands National Park, and the subsequent James Franco movie is called 127 Hours. I have heard of this movie, but have not paid enough attention to the releases this year to think of it.
4. What European country has a higher population density by far than any other nation on earth? Tiny Monaco is more than twice as dense as runner-up Singapore, with a whopping 43,000 people per square mile. (The Vatican was a good guess, but not many of its denizens live
on-site apparently. It's dense, but like a tenth as dense as Monaco.) correct
5. What controversial 1988 novel is named for an alleged text allowing prayers to be offered to three pagan goddesses: Allat, Uzza, and Manat? Those are the so-called "satanic verses" that, in some legends, the devil tempted Muhammad to include in the Qur'an. (plz no Tuesday Trivia fatwa thx!) correct
6. What are Zener cards used to test for? ESP or telepathy. These are those cards you see at the beginning of Ghostbusters, with the circle, wavy lines, etc. I guess my Spidey sense is not well developed since I did not think of this.
7. What unusual distinction do these famous people have in common? Salmon Chase, Terry Chimes, Bob Cousy, Barry Gibb, Dick LeBeau, Michael Palin. Okay, this is a little goofy, but try to follow along: these people all have the *same initials* as the group to which they most famously belonged. To wit: Supreme Court, The Clash, Boston Celtics, Bee Gees, Detroit Lions, Monty Python. Clever. I like this question even if I did not see the pattern until now. In contrast to some other Q7s, this really is a "unique distinction."