Sunday, September 09, 2012
Ken Jennings Tuesday Trivia - September 4
THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS
1. What specific object appears in the best-known paintings of both Jasper Johns and Emmanuel Leutze? The US flag
2. The 1961 jazz recording First Time! is a collaboration between what two legendary jazz pianists and bandleaders with aristocratic nicknames? Count Basie and Duke Ellington?
3. What city, once called Leopoldville, is on pace to surpass Paris as the world's largest French-speaking city by 2020? Leopoldville sounds like a city that was in the Belgian Congo. Kinshasa?
4. The premise of the TV show Smash is a Broadway musical based on the life of what woman? Susan Stroman?
5. What unit of measurement is defined as 2,240 pounds in its "long" variety? ton
6. Who was famously arrested, at least initially, for the murder of a police officer named J. D. Tippit? Lee Harvey Oswald
7. What distinction is shared by these NFL and Major League Baseball teams, and no others? The Atlanta Falcons, Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints, St. Louis Rams, and Tampa Bay Rays? not very hard - they are the only teams that still play in indoor stadiums
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. What famous American explorer died under mysterious circumstances at a Tennessee inn in October 1809? The death of Meriwether Lewis, just a few years after his famous expedition (he's the Lewis of "and Clark" fame) was officially ruled a suicide, but to this day many of his descendants insist he was murdered. NBC Dateline should investigate!
2. What fictional baby spoke his first words on June 21, 1938, remarking, "Well, blow me down"? This was "Swee'Pea," borrowing the catchphrase of his adoptive father, Popeye the Sailor Man. and what did Popeye say in his first words?
3. In Greek mythology, what nymph dies pining away for her beloved Narcissus, leaving nothing but her voice behind to haunt the earth? Our word "echo" comes from the name of Narcissus' overly attached girlfriend. correct
4. Pitchfork Magazine's recent "The People's Top 200 List" of its readers' favorite albums of the last fifteen years was topped by two albums--one from 1997 and the other from 2000--both recorded by what band? The two records are OK Computer and Kid A, and the band is Radiohead. A shocking result from Pitchfork readers! correct
5. What was the more familiar baronial name of Victorian scientist William Thomson, famed for his calculations regarding absolute zero? Thomson was also Lord Kelvin, and proposed the absolute temperature scale today named for him. Basically he was one stone-cold motherf-er. correct
6. What TV hit used a Tootsie Pop for the letter 'O' in its title in the marketing materials for a brief 2005 revival? Kojak is the lollipop fan in question--played by Ving Rhames in the ill-fated revival in question, by the way. Yeah, I don't really remember it either. correct
7. Based on the unusual distinction shared by these cities and no others, what city is missing from the beginning of this list? Mexico City, Paris, Versailles, Berlin, Paris, San Francisco, Vienna, and Moscow. These are, in chronological order, the cities where the U.S. signed treaties ending all the declared wars in its history. (There are some oddities here--the final treaty with Germany after World War II wasn't signed until after reunification in 1990, which is what Moscow is doing on this list.) So the first city on the list would be the treaty ending the War of 1812, which was signed in Ghent, Belgium. Not an easy question this week. I am considering my answer to have been correct
1. What specific object appears in the best-known paintings of both Jasper Johns and Emmanuel Leutze? The US flag
2. The 1961 jazz recording First Time! is a collaboration between what two legendary jazz pianists and bandleaders with aristocratic nicknames? Count Basie and Duke Ellington?
3. What city, once called Leopoldville, is on pace to surpass Paris as the world's largest French-speaking city by 2020? Leopoldville sounds like a city that was in the Belgian Congo. Kinshasa?
4. The premise of the TV show Smash is a Broadway musical based on the life of what woman? Susan Stroman?
5. What unit of measurement is defined as 2,240 pounds in its "long" variety? ton
6. Who was famously arrested, at least initially, for the murder of a police officer named J. D. Tippit? Lee Harvey Oswald
7. What distinction is shared by these NFL and Major League Baseball teams, and no others? The Atlanta Falcons, Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints, St. Louis Rams, and Tampa Bay Rays? not very hard - they are the only teams that still play in indoor stadiums
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. What famous American explorer died under mysterious circumstances at a Tennessee inn in October 1809? The death of Meriwether Lewis, just a few years after his famous expedition (he's the Lewis of "and Clark" fame) was officially ruled a suicide, but to this day many of his descendants insist he was murdered. NBC Dateline should investigate!
2. What fictional baby spoke his first words on June 21, 1938, remarking, "Well, blow me down"? This was "Swee'Pea," borrowing the catchphrase of his adoptive father, Popeye the Sailor Man. and what did Popeye say in his first words?
3. In Greek mythology, what nymph dies pining away for her beloved Narcissus, leaving nothing but her voice behind to haunt the earth? Our word "echo" comes from the name of Narcissus' overly attached girlfriend. correct
4. Pitchfork Magazine's recent "The People's Top 200 List" of its readers' favorite albums of the last fifteen years was topped by two albums--one from 1997 and the other from 2000--both recorded by what band? The two records are OK Computer and Kid A, and the band is Radiohead. A shocking result from Pitchfork readers! correct
5. What was the more familiar baronial name of Victorian scientist William Thomson, famed for his calculations regarding absolute zero? Thomson was also Lord Kelvin, and proposed the absolute temperature scale today named for him. Basically he was one stone-cold motherf-er. correct
6. What TV hit used a Tootsie Pop for the letter 'O' in its title in the marketing materials for a brief 2005 revival? Kojak is the lollipop fan in question--played by Ving Rhames in the ill-fated revival in question, by the way. Yeah, I don't really remember it either. correct
7. Based on the unusual distinction shared by these cities and no others, what city is missing from the beginning of this list? Mexico City, Paris, Versailles, Berlin, Paris, San Francisco, Vienna, and Moscow. These are, in chronological order, the cities where the U.S. signed treaties ending all the declared wars in its history. (There are some oddities here--the final treaty with Germany after World War II wasn't signed until after reunification in 1990, which is what Moscow is doing on this list.) So the first city on the list would be the treaty ending the War of 1812, which was signed in Ghent, Belgium. Not an easy question this week. I am considering my answer to have been correct
