Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Ken Jennings Tuesday Trivia - June 28
THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS
1. What NBA team was the last stop in the careers of both Pete Maravich and Shaquille O'Neal? Enough with the Shaq trivia please. KJ recently asked about the oldest active player in the NBA and now this. I think Shaq was a Celtic at the end of the season. But what do I know. I pay no attention to the NBA. Are the playoffs over yet?
2. What cancelled historical event, to have been led by Captain Richard F. Gordon, has lent its name to a They Might Be Giants album and an upcoming horror film? How could it be an historical event if it was cancelled? Maybe the Apollo program? Apollo 18? Would have been led by a Captain. The new Transformers movie is called Dark of the Moon. But I would not call Transformers a horror film.
3. In the U.S., what are selected via "voir dire"? Juries. This is eerily prescient. I report to court tomorrow for jury selection.
4. What large U.S. metropolitan area deposits 90% of its human burials in above-ground vaults, a higher percentage than any other world city? New Orleans
5. What involuntary movement of the orbicularis oculi muscle do adult humans perform over 15,000 times per day? blink
6. What TV and movie actor published the memoir Just One More Thing: Stories from My Life in 2006? the late Peter Falk. Serpentine!
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these historical figures? Julius Caesar, Thomas Chatterton, Cleopatra, James Cook, Lady Jane Grey, Leonardo da Vinci, Jean-Paul Marat, Montezuma, Horatio Nelson, Socrates. I know several of these folks to be left-handed. Others may have been portrayed in art works as left-handed.
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. What short-lived TV series titled almost half its episodes with rhyming pairs like "Beers and Weirs," "Tests and Breasts," and "Noshing and Moshing"? The title did it too: Freaks and Geeks. correct
2. The world "ball speed record," once held by jai alai, has since been reclaimed by players of what much more popular sport? Jai alai players can hurl the ball as fast as 188mph, but golf long drive champion Jason Zuback recently whacked a golf ball at 204mph, the current record. Take that weird Basque sports! my golf shots might not reach a speed that would get a ticket on an interstate
3. The drug levonorgestrel is marketed as "Plan B," under the assumption that "Plan A" is what? Plan B is an emergency (i.e. after-the-fact) contraceptive, so I guess Plan A would have been "regular birth control" or "a condom" or "staying home alone on a Saturday night and watching Cold Case reruns." correct
4. In the Bible, what kind of bird saved Elijah's life but was singularly unhelpful to Noah? Elijah in the wilderness was fed by ravens--the same kind of bird that just flew "to and fro" when Noah sent it out from the ark to see if the flood was over. correct
5. What now-independent island took its former name from the Portuguese for "beautiful island"? Taiwan. I guess "Formosa" means "beautifully formed," and isn't just a mimosa made with formaldehyde instead of champagne, as I once believed. this is a good question. Final Jeopardy worthy.
6. What rock frontman was born May 10, 1960--appropriately enough, just nine days after Francis Gary Powers was shot down over Russia? Powers was shot down in a U2 plane the same month Bono was born. By all accounts, this is just a coincidence. correct
7. What unusual (and fairly specific) distinction is shared by all these movies? The Barefoot Contessa, The Brothers McMullen, Frankenstein (1931), Great Expectations (1946), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Night of the Living Dead, Plan 9 from Outer Space, Saving Private Ryan, Under the Volcano, Volver. These are all movies that begin in a cemetery. What other great cemetery first scenes did I miss? I guess you could also do a follow-up list of movies that END in cemeteries. Like The Third Man and Spider-Man, but not the third Spider-Man. How about this question - can I leave it in a cemetery?
1. What NBA team was the last stop in the careers of both Pete Maravich and Shaquille O'Neal? Enough with the Shaq trivia please. KJ recently asked about the oldest active player in the NBA and now this. I think Shaq was a Celtic at the end of the season. But what do I know. I pay no attention to the NBA. Are the playoffs over yet?
2. What cancelled historical event, to have been led by Captain Richard F. Gordon, has lent its name to a They Might Be Giants album and an upcoming horror film? How could it be an historical event if it was cancelled? Maybe the Apollo program? Apollo 18? Would have been led by a Captain. The new Transformers movie is called Dark of the Moon. But I would not call Transformers a horror film.
3. In the U.S., what are selected via "voir dire"? Juries. This is eerily prescient. I report to court tomorrow for jury selection.
4. What large U.S. metropolitan area deposits 90% of its human burials in above-ground vaults, a higher percentage than any other world city? New Orleans
5. What involuntary movement of the orbicularis oculi muscle do adult humans perform over 15,000 times per day? blink
6. What TV and movie actor published the memoir Just One More Thing: Stories from My Life in 2006? the late Peter Falk. Serpentine!
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these historical figures? Julius Caesar, Thomas Chatterton, Cleopatra, James Cook, Lady Jane Grey, Leonardo da Vinci, Jean-Paul Marat, Montezuma, Horatio Nelson, Socrates. I know several of these folks to be left-handed. Others may have been portrayed in art works as left-handed.
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. What short-lived TV series titled almost half its episodes with rhyming pairs like "Beers and Weirs," "Tests and Breasts," and "Noshing and Moshing"? The title did it too: Freaks and Geeks. correct
2. The world "ball speed record," once held by jai alai, has since been reclaimed by players of what much more popular sport? Jai alai players can hurl the ball as fast as 188mph, but golf long drive champion Jason Zuback recently whacked a golf ball at 204mph, the current record. Take that weird Basque sports! my golf shots might not reach a speed that would get a ticket on an interstate
3. The drug levonorgestrel is marketed as "Plan B," under the assumption that "Plan A" is what? Plan B is an emergency (i.e. after-the-fact) contraceptive, so I guess Plan A would have been "regular birth control" or "a condom" or "staying home alone on a Saturday night and watching Cold Case reruns." correct
4. In the Bible, what kind of bird saved Elijah's life but was singularly unhelpful to Noah? Elijah in the wilderness was fed by ravens--the same kind of bird that just flew "to and fro" when Noah sent it out from the ark to see if the flood was over. correct
5. What now-independent island took its former name from the Portuguese for "beautiful island"? Taiwan. I guess "Formosa" means "beautifully formed," and isn't just a mimosa made with formaldehyde instead of champagne, as I once believed. this is a good question. Final Jeopardy worthy.
6. What rock frontman was born May 10, 1960--appropriately enough, just nine days after Francis Gary Powers was shot down over Russia? Powers was shot down in a U2 plane the same month Bono was born. By all accounts, this is just a coincidence. correct
7. What unusual (and fairly specific) distinction is shared by all these movies? The Barefoot Contessa, The Brothers McMullen, Frankenstein (1931), Great Expectations (1946), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Night of the Living Dead, Plan 9 from Outer Space, Saving Private Ryan, Under the Volcano, Volver. These are all movies that begin in a cemetery. What other great cemetery first scenes did I miss? I guess you could also do a follow-up list of movies that END in cemeteries. Like The Third Man and Spider-Man, but not the third Spider-Man. How about this question - can I leave it in a cemetery?
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That's a good answer, Brad. I knew about the famous painting of Marat (which probably should have been a giveaway). But thanks to your answer I now know about other paintings with which I was unfamiliar, like the Death of Da Vinci.
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