Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Ken Jennings Tuesday Trivia - May 22
THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS
1. What are the only two species of eagle that can be found in the U.S. and Canada? bald and golden
2. From 1872 to 1874, Captain John Moresby mapped the coast of what island? Port Moresby is in Papua New Guinea. What island is that, Borneo?
3. What company was America's most profitable retailer in 2012, with almost twice the sales dollars per square foot as its nearest rival, Tiffany? Is it another high end retailer like Cartier? Or a store with incredibly high turnover in a relatively small space like Costco? I might answer Amazon because it has infinite sales per square foot - no stores! But I think that KJ is looking only at bricks and mortar companies. I'll go for Cartier.
4. What director has used as settings for his films the palatial corner house at 111 Archer Avenue, the trenches and reefs around the Ping Islands, a luxury train crossing India, and a New England summer camp? luxury train crossing India ---> Darjeeling Limited ---> Wes Anderson?
5. For what occasion would a poet pen an epithalamion? what a lovely Greek word, epithalamion. However I don't have a good sense of what it means. Maybe the same root as epitaph? a funeral?
6. The "Big Four" Fashion Weeks are held in New York, London, and what two continental European cities? Paris and Milan
7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these TV characters? Gob Bluth on Arrested Development, Dr. Mark Craig on St. Elsewhere, Oscar Madison on The Odd Couple, Stuart Markowitz on L.A. Law, Commander Sheridian on Babylon 5, Roger Sterling on Mad Men, Ron Swanson on Parks and Recreation, Jason Walton on The Waltons. The actors who portrayed them all appeared on the shows with their real live wives.
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. What German physicist proved the existence of electromagnetic waves in 1885, which explains why you can still see his name abbreviated on most radios? The standard "Hz" unit of frequency that's probably still marked on your radio dial is named for Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, who also invented the Hertz donut. correct
2. George Harrison and Madonna both wrote memorable lyrics about "living" where, a location where the Police also set a hit song? In the material world. correct
3. What U.S. city's regional magazine is called 5280? Denver is, famously, located at that elevation in feet. More or less. Boulder is higher but that's just the pot smoke. correct
4. In 1889, who wrote to his brother Theo, "The peony is Jeannin's, the hollyhock belongs to Quost, but the sunflower is mine in a way"? Vincent van Gogh, who had just painted his famous series of seven sunflower paintings. Van Gogh is often said to have sold only a single painting during his lifetime, but in 1987 one of the sunflower canvases sold at auction for a record $40 million. correct
5. Historically, the Germans used the term "left-handed" to refer to a morganatic what? A morganatic marriage was what European royalty used to call a marriage between people of unequal social station. (In a morganatic marriage, the bride and children don't have any claim to Daddy's stuff or title.) ok, never heard of this before
6. What famously happened to an Irish setter called Seamus in June of 1983? Seamus was the dog famously left on the roof of the family station wagon during Mitt Romney's family vacation. correct
7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these movies? Cold Mountain, Die Another Day, The Da Vinci Code, The Firm, Foul Play, Gummo, The Ninth Gate, The Princess Bride. Albinos! Albinos! Albinos! (We also accepted "evil albinos," even though that's sort of pigment-ist). correct
1. What are the only two species of eagle that can be found in the U.S. and Canada? bald and golden
2. From 1872 to 1874, Captain John Moresby mapped the coast of what island? Port Moresby is in Papua New Guinea. What island is that, Borneo?
3. What company was America's most profitable retailer in 2012, with almost twice the sales dollars per square foot as its nearest rival, Tiffany? Is it another high end retailer like Cartier? Or a store with incredibly high turnover in a relatively small space like Costco? I might answer Amazon because it has infinite sales per square foot - no stores! But I think that KJ is looking only at bricks and mortar companies. I'll go for Cartier.
4. What director has used as settings for his films the palatial corner house at 111 Archer Avenue, the trenches and reefs around the Ping Islands, a luxury train crossing India, and a New England summer camp? luxury train crossing India ---> Darjeeling Limited ---> Wes Anderson?
5. For what occasion would a poet pen an epithalamion? what a lovely Greek word, epithalamion. However I don't have a good sense of what it means. Maybe the same root as epitaph? a funeral?
6. The "Big Four" Fashion Weeks are held in New York, London, and what two continental European cities? Paris and Milan
7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these TV characters? Gob Bluth on Arrested Development, Dr. Mark Craig on St. Elsewhere, Oscar Madison on The Odd Couple, Stuart Markowitz on L.A. Law, Commander Sheridian on Babylon 5, Roger Sterling on Mad Men, Ron Swanson on Parks and Recreation, Jason Walton on The Waltons. The actors who portrayed them all appeared on the shows with their real live wives.
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. What German physicist proved the existence of electromagnetic waves in 1885, which explains why you can still see his name abbreviated on most radios? The standard "Hz" unit of frequency that's probably still marked on your radio dial is named for Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, who also invented the Hertz donut. correct
2. George Harrison and Madonna both wrote memorable lyrics about "living" where, a location where the Police also set a hit song? In the material world. correct
3. What U.S. city's regional magazine is called 5280? Denver is, famously, located at that elevation in feet. More or less. Boulder is higher but that's just the pot smoke. correct
4. In 1889, who wrote to his brother Theo, "The peony is Jeannin's, the hollyhock belongs to Quost, but the sunflower is mine in a way"? Vincent van Gogh, who had just painted his famous series of seven sunflower paintings. Van Gogh is often said to have sold only a single painting during his lifetime, but in 1987 one of the sunflower canvases sold at auction for a record $40 million. correct
5. Historically, the Germans used the term "left-handed" to refer to a morganatic what? A morganatic marriage was what European royalty used to call a marriage between people of unequal social station. (In a morganatic marriage, the bride and children don't have any claim to Daddy's stuff or title.) ok, never heard of this before
6. What famously happened to an Irish setter called Seamus in June of 1983? Seamus was the dog famously left on the roof of the family station wagon during Mitt Romney's family vacation. correct
7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these movies? Cold Mountain, Die Another Day, The Da Vinci Code, The Firm, Foul Play, Gummo, The Ninth Gate, The Princess Bride. Albinos! Albinos! Albinos! (We also accepted "evil albinos," even though that's sort of pigment-ist). correct
