Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Ken Jennings Tuesday Trivia - October 23
THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS
1. In physics, what letter is used to represent an acceleration of 9.8 meters per second squared? g for gravity?
2. What 1902 sculpture was originally inspired by its creator's desire to sculpt Dante at the Gates of Hell, mentally composing his epic poem Inferno? The Thinker
3. What actress starred in both Heartburn and Music of the Heart? Meryl Streep
4. According to Ovid, what ancient king was cured by bathing in the Pactolus River, while in Aristotle's version, he winds up starving to death? Midas?
5. World Taekwondo Federation headquarters and the Kimchi Museum are both found in what affluent district in southwest Seoul, Korea, which boasts the highest land values in the entire country? I would not have known the answer a couple of months ago, but I do now. GangNam.
6. Choker, sautoir, and matinee are all varieties of what type of jewelry? necklaces
7. What unusual distinction--unusual for literary classics, anyway--is shared by these books, at least in large part? The Aeneid, As I Lay Dying, Bleak House, The Fall, Guys and Dolls, The Moviegoer, Ordinary People, Rabbit Run, Something Happened, The Song of Bernadette. The only common thread that I can see from research may be a common form of narration using present tense.
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. What empire had its capital at a city then called Qusqu? Qusqu is today more commonly spelled "Cuzco," and it's the Peruvian city where the Inca Empire made its capital. correct
2. A computer firm called Chicken Little Associates formed more than 35 years ago to predict where what 1979 event would occur? Much as Chicken Little warned that the sky was falling, Chicken Little Associates tried to calculate where Skylab, the orbitally-challenged NASA satellite, was falling. correct
3. What brand famously appears on the large cups that the American Idol judges drink from? Coca-Cola has sponsored American Idol since its first season. correct
4. What word, in science, refers to a solid material's ability to be deformed by compressing it--hammering it into a thin sheet, for example? That's malleability. (A closely related term, "ductility," is a metal's ability to be drawn into a wire.) correct
5. Soviet basketball stars like Arvydas Sabonis and Sarunas Marciulionis went on to more Olympic glory with what national team after the breakup of the USSR? The core of the Soviet basketball empire was often made up of players from Lithuania. correct
6. Besides "USA," what word has appeared since 2006 on all the Post Office's "non-denominated" postage stamps? Those are the "Forever" stamps. correct
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these cities, listed in this order? Los Angeles, London, Baghdad, Mumbai, El Paso, Boston, Los Angeles. They're the principal settings of the last seven Best Picture Oscar winners: The Artist, The King's Speech, The Hurt Locker, Slumdog Millionaire, No Country for Old Men, The Departed, and Crash. Wesley Bourland, who suggested this question, noted that the list should probably stop there, since the setting for Million Dollar Baby is never explicitly identified (though it's presumably L.A.) correct
1. In physics, what letter is used to represent an acceleration of 9.8 meters per second squared? g for gravity?
2. What 1902 sculpture was originally inspired by its creator's desire to sculpt Dante at the Gates of Hell, mentally composing his epic poem Inferno? The Thinker
3. What actress starred in both Heartburn and Music of the Heart? Meryl Streep
4. According to Ovid, what ancient king was cured by bathing in the Pactolus River, while in Aristotle's version, he winds up starving to death? Midas?
5. World Taekwondo Federation headquarters and the Kimchi Museum are both found in what affluent district in southwest Seoul, Korea, which boasts the highest land values in the entire country? I would not have known the answer a couple of months ago, but I do now. GangNam.
6. Choker, sautoir, and matinee are all varieties of what type of jewelry? necklaces
7. What unusual distinction--unusual for literary classics, anyway--is shared by these books, at least in large part? The Aeneid, As I Lay Dying, Bleak House, The Fall, Guys and Dolls, The Moviegoer, Ordinary People, Rabbit Run, Something Happened, The Song of Bernadette. The only common thread that I can see from research may be a common form of narration using present tense.
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. What empire had its capital at a city then called Qusqu? Qusqu is today more commonly spelled "Cuzco," and it's the Peruvian city where the Inca Empire made its capital. correct
2. A computer firm called Chicken Little Associates formed more than 35 years ago to predict where what 1979 event would occur? Much as Chicken Little warned that the sky was falling, Chicken Little Associates tried to calculate where Skylab, the orbitally-challenged NASA satellite, was falling. correct
3. What brand famously appears on the large cups that the American Idol judges drink from? Coca-Cola has sponsored American Idol since its first season. correct
4. What word, in science, refers to a solid material's ability to be deformed by compressing it--hammering it into a thin sheet, for example? That's malleability. (A closely related term, "ductility," is a metal's ability to be drawn into a wire.) correct
5. Soviet basketball stars like Arvydas Sabonis and Sarunas Marciulionis went on to more Olympic glory with what national team after the breakup of the USSR? The core of the Soviet basketball empire was often made up of players from Lithuania. correct
6. Besides "USA," what word has appeared since 2006 on all the Post Office's "non-denominated" postage stamps? Those are the "Forever" stamps. correct
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these cities, listed in this order? Los Angeles, London, Baghdad, Mumbai, El Paso, Boston, Los Angeles. They're the principal settings of the last seven Best Picture Oscar winners: The Artist, The King's Speech, The Hurt Locker, Slumdog Millionaire, No Country for Old Men, The Departed, and Crash. Wesley Bourland, who suggested this question, noted that the list should probably stop there, since the setting for Million Dollar Baby is never explicitly identified (though it's presumably L.A.) correct
