Monday, October 15, 2012
Ken Jennings Tuesday Trivia - October 9
THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS
1. What kind of animal is Richard Parker, the title character's lifeboat companion in Yann Martel's book Life of Pi? I think it is a tiger
2. What band's latest release is not a third rock opera, but a trilogy of pop-punk albums called !Uno!, !Dos!, and !Tre!? Green Day
3. Which English king was described after his death as "little of stature" "crook-backed," and "deformed of body," with "one shoulder higher than the right"? Richard III?
4. What gas is released by Pop Rocks as they dissolve? nitrous oxide?
5. Tenzing-Hillary Airport, recently deemed the world's most dangerous, is found in the northeast corner of what nation? Nepal
6. The stringed metal frame of a piano is sometimes called by the name of what other musical instrument? harp
7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these consumer brands? Alfa Romeo, Best Western, Budweiser, Cadillac, Hallmark, Imperial Sugar, KLM, Rolex, Saab, Starbucks. Pretty easy. All logos include a crown.
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. What TV show has changed settings in its second season from the "Murder House" at 939 Berro Drive in Los Angeles to an insane asylum called Briarcliff Manor? This is American Horror Story, reviving the anthology TV format by switching plotlines in its second season, subtitled "Asylum." correct
2. In math, a "Ruth-Aaron pair" is a pair of two consecutive integers with equal sums of their prime factors. What two numbers make up the original Ruth-Aaron pair that gave the concept its name? This math concept got its name from the fact that Hank Aaron's 715th homer beat Babe Ruth's lifetime record: 714. In other words, 714 and 715 are the cancnical Ruth-Aaron pair. Reader Greg McFarlane points out that, unbelievably, Pete Rose breaking Ty Cobb career hits record also represents a Ruth-Aaron pair: 4,191 and 4,192! 714 = 2 × 3 × 7 × 17 and 715 = 5 × 11 × 13. 2 + 3 + 7 + 17 = 5 + 11 + 13 = 29
3. In what video game franchise would you find the small family farm called Lon Lon Ranch? Lon Lon Ranch is a setting in many of the Legend of Zelda games. I have no chance at any video game question unless the answer is "all your base are belong to me."
4. Who's the only U.S. president whose military career topped out at four-star general? Eisenhower was five-star. George Washington was retroactively made some super-duper too-great-for-ANY-number-of-stars thing. So only Ulysses S. Grant retired as a four-star general. narrowed it down and guessed the wrong one
5. What European Union member has more square miles of glacier than the rest of the continent put together? This is the appropriately named Iceland. I sort of feel bad that Norway is such a tempting answer here, but on the other hand, it's not an EU member. tough week
6. What expression meaning "get to the point" originated as the filmmaking philosophy of silent movie producer Hal Roach? "Cut to the chase," he used to tell his editors. correct
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these U.S. states and no others? Georgia, Maine, Mississippi, Ohio, and South Carolina--and, unofficially, Alabama and Washington? These are all the states that salute a local tree in their nicknames: the peach, the pine, the magnolia, the buckeye, and the palmetto, to be specific. Alabama and Washington both have common nicknames ("the Camellia Stae" and "the Evergreen State") that are not officially enshrined in law. doggone it. this was gettable.
1. What kind of animal is Richard Parker, the title character's lifeboat companion in Yann Martel's book Life of Pi? I think it is a tiger
2. What band's latest release is not a third rock opera, but a trilogy of pop-punk albums called !Uno!, !Dos!, and !Tre!? Green Day
3. Which English king was described after his death as "little of stature" "crook-backed," and "deformed of body," with "one shoulder higher than the right"? Richard III?
4. What gas is released by Pop Rocks as they dissolve? nitrous oxide?
5. Tenzing-Hillary Airport, recently deemed the world's most dangerous, is found in the northeast corner of what nation? Nepal
6. The stringed metal frame of a piano is sometimes called by the name of what other musical instrument? harp
7. What unusual distinction is shared by all these consumer brands? Alfa Romeo, Best Western, Budweiser, Cadillac, Hallmark, Imperial Sugar, KLM, Rolex, Saab, Starbucks. Pretty easy. All logos include a crown.
LAST WEEK'S ANSWERS
1. What TV show has changed settings in its second season from the "Murder House" at 939 Berro Drive in Los Angeles to an insane asylum called Briarcliff Manor? This is American Horror Story, reviving the anthology TV format by switching plotlines in its second season, subtitled "Asylum." correct
2. In math, a "Ruth-Aaron pair" is a pair of two consecutive integers with equal sums of their prime factors. What two numbers make up the original Ruth-Aaron pair that gave the concept its name? This math concept got its name from the fact that Hank Aaron's 715th homer beat Babe Ruth's lifetime record: 714. In other words, 714 and 715 are the cancnical Ruth-Aaron pair. Reader Greg McFarlane points out that, unbelievably, Pete Rose breaking Ty Cobb career hits record also represents a Ruth-Aaron pair: 4,191 and 4,192! 714 = 2 × 3 × 7 × 17 and 715 = 5 × 11 × 13. 2 + 3 + 7 + 17 = 5 + 11 + 13 = 29
3. In what video game franchise would you find the small family farm called Lon Lon Ranch? Lon Lon Ranch is a setting in many of the Legend of Zelda games. I have no chance at any video game question unless the answer is "all your base are belong to me."
4. Who's the only U.S. president whose military career topped out at four-star general? Eisenhower was five-star. George Washington was retroactively made some super-duper too-great-for-ANY-number-of-stars thing. So only Ulysses S. Grant retired as a four-star general. narrowed it down and guessed the wrong one
5. What European Union member has more square miles of glacier than the rest of the continent put together? This is the appropriately named Iceland. I sort of feel bad that Norway is such a tempting answer here, but on the other hand, it's not an EU member. tough week
6. What expression meaning "get to the point" originated as the filmmaking philosophy of silent movie producer Hal Roach? "Cut to the chase," he used to tell his editors. correct
7. What unusual distinction is shared by these U.S. states and no others? Georgia, Maine, Mississippi, Ohio, and South Carolina--and, unofficially, Alabama and Washington? These are all the states that salute a local tree in their nicknames: the peach, the pine, the magnolia, the buckeye, and the palmetto, to be specific. Alabama and Washington both have common nicknames ("the Camellia Stae" and "the Evergreen State") that are not officially enshrined in law. doggone it. this was gettable.
